Lady Jenny Joy Jubilee and Sir Flanders Arckery Nickels, the world’s only two born-again Christians in the world of the tribulation, wish for a companion in their lives. Lady Jennifer is a woman of De Pere, Wisconsin.
Sir Flanders is the illustrious Griffin Keeper of the Fifty-First State, a paradise in Upper Michigan. The ministry of the Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins is to slay in battle the dread four unicornmen and their four unicorns of the apocalypse. And the born-again believer Flanders wields the famous LongSpear created by God for this mission.
THE SONG OF GUINEVERE
Mr. Morgan McCarthy
The Table of Contents
Chapter I……………………………………………………………………………………………Page 1
Chapter II………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 13
Chapter III…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 27
Chapter IV…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 39
Chapter V…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 51
Chapter VI…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 65
Chapter VII………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 79
Chapter VIII………………………………………………………………………………………Page 93
Chapter IX……………………………………………………………………………………….Page 106
Chapter X…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 119
Chapter XI……………………………………………………………………………………….Page 133
Chapter XII………………………………………………………………………………………Page 146
Chapter XIII……………………………………………………………………………………..Page 159
Chapter XIV……………………………………………………………………………………..Page 172
Chapter XV………………………………………………………………………………………Page 186
Chapter XVI……………………………………………………………………………………..Page 200
Chapter XVII…………………………………………………………………………………….Page 219
CHAPTER I
The young Christian woman stood before her full-length hallway mirror to ponder and to to consider and to critique. Men found her quite attractive, and she thanked her God for that. As for how she felt about her looks, she was not so confident. Her tresses were a golden blonde, most abundant, and with full short curls left and right and front and back. Her eyes were brown and vibrant and abundant in the glory of young womanhood. And her nineteen-year old countenance shone with the joy of life of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. What this girl had on today was what she had on everyday—her favorite outfit: Upon her golden head was a black cowgirl hat; upon her torso she had on both a black and gray and white plaid long-sleeved blouse and a ladies’ black denim vest with metal buttons all buttoned up; upon her loins she had on a black denim skirt with a black leather belt and with three flounces of black lace reaching down to her knees; upon her legs and feet she had on sleek black tights; and upon her feet and much of her shins she had on black leather cowgirl boots. For a young lady, this girl was tall and slender, herself standing five feet eight inches tall and herself weighing one hundred twenty pounds. She prayed in her ready spontaneity with her Saviour, “Do guys like me for what I wear or for how I look, Lord?” Then she prayed, “Good Lord, what is it like to have a guy of my own?” Then she said, “At least I have my roommate Tracy, Father.” Today was this born-again
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Christian woman’s birthday, and kind Tracy had given her a most delightful birthday present just perfect for any born-again believer who loved the Word of God. This birthday present was the whole King James Version Bible on cassette tape read by Alexander Scourby. “Precious and dear Tracy,” said the believer as she looked up to Heaven where God was. “Thank You, Lord!” Taking one last look at herself in the mirror, this young lady said to herself, “You may not feel pretty, but Proffery thinks that you are beautiful, girl!” Greatly encouraged by this guy Proffery, this nineteen-year old teenager left this mirror to go back again to that exciting letter that she had found in her mailbox this morning. And she took delights in this wonderful letter once again on her sofa, this letter and its envelope upon the skirt of her lap.
The return address to this envelope read: “Sir Proffery R. Coins, 114 ½ North Broadway, De Pere, WI 54115. And the mailing address to this envelope read, “Lady Jennifer J. Jubilee, 777 South Good Hope Road, De Pere, WI 54115.” And this Jenny Jubilee reread this most beloved letter once again to herself out loud:
“Dear Lady Jenny:
I do not know if you remember me. I was the one who sat behind you in Physics
class last year. I was a junior boy, and you were a senior girl. You were the
pretty girl of De Pere High School. Times were better for us teenagers back
then. That was before the antichrist and the false prophet had come to rule this
world. I really wanted to ask you out on a date with me at Dairy Queen. I loved
their large chocolate ice cream cone. But then I thought, ‘What would our school’s
most classy girl want to go out with the varsity football team quarterback for?’
All of our high school know that you are a lady. I am just a football jock. I am a
senior boy now, and you are on your own as an adult. Is it too late for us to share
an ice cream cone now, Lady Jennifer?
I heard that you became a born-again Christian recently. I do not understand all
that that is about. But I say to you about that, ‘Way to go, girl!’ I never heard of
anyone else doing that much with Jesus before, actually getting saved and all like
that. Don’t dare let the antichrist or the false prophet find out what you went and
did. I promise that I will tell no one else about your becoming a born-again believer.
Whatever it is all about, I definitely approve of what you did. You were beautiful
on the outside before, but now you are even more beautiful on the inside, you being
into God as you are, Lady Jenny.
Halloween is coming up, Miss Jubilee. I was wondering also if you would like going
trick-or-treating with me that evening. We could go house-to-house all over De Pere
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and fill up a paper bag full of candy. Your Halloween costume can be that of a cow-
girl—the outfit you wore everyday at school. My Halloween costume can be my
football uniform with my number “00” on my jersey that I have on in all of our foot-
ball games. We can put on black masks. I would love to kiss a pretty girl who has
a black mask over her eyes. Would you love to kiss a guy who has a black mask
over his eyes? Would something sweet and romantic like that on Halloween be
okay with you and with your Jesus, Lady Jenny? I shall wait by my mailbox in
hopes of finding out what you think about that for the two of us. My crush for you
has grown since Physics class last year. I miss my high school days with you.
Your fond admirer,
Sir Proffery Coins,
P, S. Happy Birthday, girl! Love you!”
In sweet reminiscence, Jenny Jubilee most fondly remembered this most humble and sincere suitor. His demeanor in this letter was just as it was in his dealings with everyone else at high school. That is, Proffery Coins was the most popular boy in De Pere High School and for good reason. This star quarterback of the varsity football team was always kind and true and good to everybody there—to the principal and to the teachers, to the upperclassmen and to the underclassmen, and to Jenny and to all the other girls there. He was a colleague to all of the Redbird football players, whether they played varsity or junior varsity or freshmen football. And he was a gentleman to cheerleader and to pom pom girl alike. And not only that, but Sir Proffery had taken the De Pere Redbirds to the state football championship last year and won the game with a pinpoint ten-yard touchdown pass while being sacked by three defensive linemen. Further, this year, he was playing even better football as the Redbird quarterback. And right now, late in October, the Redbirds were yet undefeated with an 8-0 record, and all of Wisconsin was predicting another state title for De Pere this year. And as for his face and his physique: All of the girls saw Sir Proffery both as a prince and as a hunk. Lady Jennifer felt the same way about him, maybe herself so much more so even than all of the other girls.
Lady Jenny at once went to her Bible-reading table to quick write back to handsome Sir Proffery. She just had to say,”Yes,” to his date at Dairy Queen. She just had to say,”Yes,” to his date on Halloween. She just had to say, “Yes,” to him.
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Lady Jennifer Joy Jubilee had a life dream. She called it “My Song of Guinevere.” She wanted to be one man’s own “Guinevere.” Her life dream was to have a boyfriend. Before her life with Christ, her lonely woman’s heart desired a most dashing “knight in shining armor to sweep her off of her feet” in a whirlwind romance. Now in her life with Christ she wanted a prince of a guy to complete her as a princess of a gal, a handsome Christian man who was living for Christ as she was. And now, early in her saved life, she desired a boyfriend-in-the-Lord to make magic in her life and in her heart and in her head. This “Song of Guinevere,” in essence, was that God give her a cute boyfriend-in-Christ to share her life with in fellowship of God together. Psalm 37:4-5 spoke most ardently to her about her loneliness and her anticipations for answered prayers thus: “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” I John 5:14-15 said the same thing to her: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” In Psalm 84:10 God said in His Word, “…: No good thing will he [God] withhold from them that walk uprightly.” She pondered. Was she walking uprightly in the Lord this past year of her born again life in Christ? What better “good thing” to be not withheld from her than a Christian guy? Who better than herself would be God’s choice to become Sir Proffery’s Guinevere? The Guinevere of the King Arthur tales had King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain fighting over her. And the Guinevere here with paper and pencil had lots of men fighting over her. But now only Sir Proffery would get a “Yes,” from her in her many letters in which she had said, “No.”
Lady Jennifer was just about to write her first acceptance letter to a suitor when she heard a familiar voice calling down from upstairs, saying, “I’m up now, Jen,’”
“Come on down and join me, ‘Trace,’”
This was Lady Tracy Lynn Westwind, her roommate in this house. And a young woman also
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nineteen years old came walking down the stairs, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head to wake up.
“What time is it, Jen?” asked Lady Tracy Westwind.
“It’s eleven o’clock in the morning,” said Lady Jenny.
“Way to early to already be up,” said Lady Tracy. “I wish that I were back in bed.”
“It’s Saturday, Trace,’” said Jenny. “Our days off from work. Time to be up and enjoy another day from the Lord.”
“You and God—you’re both so inseparable,” said Tracy Westwind.
“That’s the way we Christians are with Christ,” said Jenny.
“I don’t see the point of the Lord,” said Tracy.
“Someday you’ll come to understand,” said Jenny. “I’ve been praying for you.”
“Just shoot me,” said Tracy, lost in her sins.
“I shall never quit telling you about Jesus, Trace.’” said Lady Jenny.
“Madonna sang a song called, ‘Papa, don’t preach,’ I can sing the song, ‘Roommate, don’t preach,’” said Tracy.
“You may have rejected the Jesus that I have to tell you about, but you have never rejected me when I tell you about Him,” said Lady Jennifer.
“That’s because you are also my best friend, and I am your best friend, Jen.’” said Lady Tracy.
“What are best friends for other that listening to each other?”
“I love you, Trace,’” said Jenny Jubilee.
“And you know that I love you, too,” said Tracy Westwind.
“I’m doing something new here with my letters,” said Jennifer.
“Something different this time?” asked Tracy.
“Uh huh,” said Lady Jennifer.
“You mean this letter is different from all the others. Don’t you?” asked Tracy.
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“Yep!” said Jenny.
“It is not a rejection letter. It is an acceptance letter,” said Tracy. Jenny nodded her head. “I don’t believe it,” said Tracy.
“You know Sir Proffery,” said Lady Jennifer.
“The most eligible bachelor in De Pere,” said Tracy.
“He likes me,” said Jenny Jubilee.
“Aha! One finally got you,” said Lady Tracy.
“He asked me to go out with him,” said Jenny.
“And you’re going out with him,” said Tracy Westwind.
“He’s the most handsome boy in high school,” said Jenny. “He’s eighteen, and I’m nineteen.”
“Jenny, you’re forgetting one thing that you never forgot before in your writing of your letters to your suitors,” said Lady Tracy.
“Jenny’s face was suddenly stricken with hurt and with recollection and with the truth of the Bible. And she said, “Oh. Yeah. Woe.”
Lady Tracy’s face fell upon the same sadness that fell upon Jenny’s face, and Tracy said, “I’m sorry for reminding you real bad, Jen.’ Would you forgive me?”
“I thank you, Trace,” said Lady Jennifer, “I had gone and forgotten the most important truth in the Bible in my walk with Christ. Thank you for reminding me.”
Tracy told Jenny this Bible truth from which Jenny had never strayed before: “’Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:…’ II Corinthians 6:14.”
Reminding herself forcefully, Lady Jenny truthfully interpreted this verse to herself in all knowledge and familiarity and allegiance, “Thou, being a saved girl, must not ever go out with an unsaved boy.” Jenny was a born-again Christian living for her Lord. Sir Proffery was not a born-again Christian, and he knew not the Lord. God’s will for Lady Jennifer this day was never to write a letter
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of acceptance to kind and handsome Sir Proffery Coins. Nay, God’s will for her this morning had not changed, and that was that she write Sir Proffery a rejection letter just as she had done with all of her other wannabe boyfriends.
“This one hurts, Tracy,” cried out Miss Jubilee in great sorrow of heart.
“I’m sorry, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
Though God’s word told her “No,” to the lost Proffery as boyfriend, the same God’s Word did not tell her “No,’ to Tracy as roommate. A saved woman dating a lost boyfriend was an unequal yoke.
But a saved woman living with a lost woman was not an unequal yoke in God’s eyes. And thinking upon this, Lady Jennifer waxed thankful for Lady Tracy Westwind.
And Miss Jubilee said, “At least I’ve got you, Tracy. What would I do if I did not have you in my life?”
“I promise to be the best roommate and friend and confidante that I can be for you, Jennifer,” said Tracy.
“And, I, you, also, Trace,’” promised Jenny.
In consolation, Lady Tracy Westwind said, “These days of tribulation upon the earth are hard on believer and unbeliever alike.”
It is written about this tribulation in Matthew 24:21, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” It is written again about this time in the world in Mark 13:19, “For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.” Indeed in this Earth of this tribulation prophesied in these two Bible verses, there was no Holy Spirit in the air. Just before this tribulation began last year, all of the born-again believers dead and alive at that time were raptured directly up to Heaven. And Jenny Jubilee was not yet born again at that time of the rapture; and that meant that she had to endure these seven years of earth’s darkest hour. Yet lost, she was quite left
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behind. The same for Tracy. But Jenny sought and found Christ as Saviour almost a year ago in this tribulation. That meant that in the end, she would be forever in the joys of Heaven with Jesus in her life to come. As for Tracy, she still rejected Christ as Saviour despite Jenny’s much prayers and much witnessing and much tears. Were Tracy to die in her sins in this tribulation, she would have to go to the fires of Hell and burn forever in her life to come. And that was a worse place than here in the world even now. The worst part for Lady Jennifer about this End Times Earth ruled by Antichrist and False Prophet was that she was the only true born-again believer anywhere and everywhere. Even at her local Baptist church, though there were religious parishioners and a religious pastor, neither the parishioners nor even the pastor were truly born-again believers in Christ. Jenny Jubilee was the only true Christian in her little church down the road. And that meant that she had no sisters-or-brothers-in-Christ with which to truly enjoy fellowship in Christ. And with no brother-in-Christ out there—not in her church and not in her city and not in this world, Lady Jenny J. Jubilee would never find an “equal yoke,” a relationship with a boyfriend whom God would approve of for her.
Thinking in introspection, Lady Jennifer remembered what she had read in II Thessalonians 2:10-12 the other day in her Bible study alone with God at this table. This passage of three Bible verses said the following: “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Lady Jenny Jubilee knew what God was saying in these Scripture verses. He was saying that if any lost person had heard the Gospel—the truth of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection—at a time before the rapture of the saved people took place and had rejected this Gospel of salvation, then after this rapture this same lost person would God seal with spiritual blindness, and that lost person would never be able to understand the saving Gospel in the rest of the tribulation—his heart sealed with blindness to this eternal truth– and he would have to die in his
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sins and go to Hell in time to come. Lady Jenny had not heard the Gospel before the rapture, but she heard it for her first time after the rapture, and she accepted Christ the Saviour here in the tribulation a year ago. Lady Tracy had not heard the Gospel before the rapture, either, but she heard it much after the rapture from Jenny this past year of Jenny’s salvation in this tribulation, but she still rejected her own so great salvation offered her yet. Alas for these woes of tribulation. Would that the two girls had gotten born again before all of this darkest times came upon this earth. They would have been in Heaven with Jesus now instead of down here in this hell on Earth. The Antichrist promised his world in cruel and sadistic warning, “I will guillotine any who name the name of Christ.” And the False Prophet instituted a number system—the number 666—to put upon people’s right hand or forehead without which no man could buy or sell. “666” meant a trinity of sixes, six in itself symbolizing man, falling short of the glory of God, Whose number of completion was seven. Neither girl had taken the number. Both were in peril for their lives. For Lady Jenny, she needed only to ponder maybe dying young at the guillotine and going right Up to Heaven. For Lady Tracy, Jenny worried that she might give in and take the number and then be accursed by God, Who promised damnation to any who took this number. And Lady Jenny also worried for Tracy that she might not give in and take the number and then die young at the hands of the government and go to Hell yet in her sins.
Seeing the pencil held hard in Jenny’s writing hand and understanding her precious Christian
roommate, Lady Tracy said, “I’ll leave you alone to your letter that you have to write.” And she said, “I think that I’ll go for a walk to Hardee’s.” And Tracy left, no doubt hoping to pick up a guy there.
And Lady Jenny, comforted by God, found the words that God wanted her to write to beloved Sir Proffery: “Dear Sir Proffery Coins:
This is Lady Jenny answering your letter. How greatly stirred is my heart now
that I know how you’ve been feeling about me. I feel the same for you, Proffery.
I never knew that you looked at me in school last year. And all the other girls
were not the only girls who looked at you in school back then in my days there.
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Physics class was the hard science class at De Pere High School. I heard that
only two students got an ‘A’ in that class. One was myself; the other was
yourself. Your academic excellence surpasses even your football excellence,
Proffery.
I most sincerely thank you for asking me out to Dairy Queen. And I thank you
for asking me out for trick-or-treating. And I thank you for even wanting to go
out with me as boyfriend-and-girlfriend. Being with you on a date would be
the funnest thing that I ever did for the sake of fun as fun itself. But, Proffery,
I serve and worship God in Spirit and in truth. I must not cheat on the Lord
with infidelity to Him. For my own good as a born-again Christian lady, I can
not accept your invitations. I fear backsliding with a shaking of my bones.
God told me, ‘Do not go out with any man who is not a Christian, whether he
be true gentleman or true beast.’ Who in De Pere personifies gentlemanliness
as much as our star Redbird varsity quarterback? I cannot ask you to turn to Christ
as I have just so I can have you as boyfriend-in-the-Lord. But could I ask you to turn to
Christ so that I can be with you in Heaven and not lose you to Hell? I have learned to
care desperately for your soul, Sir Proffery. Do not look upon me now as I write
this letter. I see tears falling down upon this paper. Hell is a terrible, terrible place to
be for ever. You need Christ to get to Heaven. I need you to get saved. Or else my
heart shall never find rest for the rest of this End Times till Jesus comes.
You may be asking yourself, ‘What is this girl talking about—this infidelity to
Jesus that a Christian lady might do in asking out a non-Christian guy?’ I think that
I can explain it in this paragraph, Sir Proffery: If you and I began going steady–
myself a believer; and yourself an unbeliever—my Christ would come between
us and divide us. I would want to come to church, and you would not want to
come to church with me. I would want to read my Bible, and you would not
want to read your Bible. I would want to pray, and you would not want to pray.
I would be all for giving out salvation tracts, and you would be all against giving
out salvation tracts. You would not want to be with me when I do the things that
I most want to do. Also, on your part, you would want to go to the bars, and I
would not want to go to the bars. You would want to go to the theaters, and I
would not want to go to the theaters. You would want to go to the casino, and I
would not want to go to the casino. You would want to go to the parties and
ask me to go to the parties with you, and I would not want to go to the parties.
Not only that, Sir Proffery, but I heard it said that ‘dating leads to love, and love
leads to marriage.’ Were we to hide our differences from each other in our dating,
and were we to fall in love, and were we to go and get married before we really
knew each other, we would take our irreconcilable differences with us into our
married life. I would make you unhappy as my husband. And you would make me
unhappy as your wife. We would come upon a broken marriage and probably a
bitter divorce. This is what God warns me about in His Word. He calls it ‘an
unequal yoke.’ And I must flee any unequal yoke that does tempt me with any sweet
and innocent romance and with any cause for so happy companionship in a guy and]
with any solution to my wretched lonesomeness that is not God’s solution.
I could fall in love with you, dear Sir Proffery. I may have already fallen in love
with you. But I must leave you before I even come to you. I cannot let myself have
my first date with any boyfriend. And for that reason, I must say to your letter of
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invitation, ‘I must decline.’ I love God first of all. And He loves me even more than
I love him. I do not want to hurt Him. He is my Heavenly Father.
I am enclosing a little booklet that tells how one can become born
again, O Sir Proffery. Would you consider it just for yourself? I promise
to pray for your soul for the rest of my life. As we Christians love to say:
‘Jesus saves!’
Yours in Christ.
‘Your girlfriend.’
Lady Jennifer Joy Jubilee.”
Then there at the table, Lady Jenny wept in loneliness. But after she cried for a while, she then sang for a while. Tracy Westwind now came downstairs again. She asked, “Are you done writing, Jen?’”
“i am now, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny.
“How did it go?” asked Tracy.
“I feel good now,”said Jenny.
“I thought that I heard you singing a church song just a moment ago.” said Tracy.
“The hymn ‘Jesus saves,’” said Lady Jenny.
“Did you turn down good Proffery?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I did at that,” said Jenny Jubilee.
“You did that, and now you sing happy hymns, Jen?’” asked Tracy.
“Yeah,” said Lady Jenny. “I know that I did the right thing for the Lord.” Then she said, “He has the opportunity to get saved now.”
“You never can tell, Jen,’” said the confused Lady Tracy. “Stranger things have happened in rejection letters.”
“What about you, Tracy? Would you like to pray and get saved right now?” asked Lady Jenny.
“I would rather we played another tournament of backgammon, Jen,’” said Tracy Westwind.
Unfazed by this yet-another rejection of Jesus by this only person more important to her than Proffery, Lady Jennifer said about backgammon, “You’re on, Trace!’ But let me first run and mail
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this letter; then I shall be right back.”
As Jenny was running out the door, Tracy asked about their backgammon tournament for when she came back, “Shall we make it two out of three, Jen?’”
And Jenny Jubilee called back from outside, “No. Let’s make it three out of five this time.”
“You’re on, Jen!” called out Tracy Westwind.
And Lady Jenny mailed her most important letter she had ever mailed.
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CHAPTER II
Sir Flanders Arckery Nickels was the famous Griffin Keeper, the master of twelve mighty griffins great upon the Earth. This man was a born-again believer, greatly indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit, and a mighty man of valor. And right now the keeper and his griffins were training at war games in the Courtyard of sand. Sir Flanders’s private land occupied a great section of Upper Michigan between Lake Superior and Wisconsin. Indeed it measured one hundred miles east and west by one hundred miles north and south. His plot of yard was called by the rest of the United States by the name “The Fifty-First State of the Union.” And this Fifty-First State was a paradise on Earth. This was a beatific wilderness not affected by civilization, void of man’s vain work, and a benign domain of animals born free and of plants living free. The predator-prey relationship that was a part of the animal kingdom beyond the Fifty-First State was not a part of the animal kingdom within the Fifty-First State. The curse upon nature that had been brought about by Adan and Eve’s sin was lifted by God Almighty in
this Utopic ten thousand square miles of north country. No thorns and no thistles were seen anywhere in this land of Sir Flanders. In Winter there was no whiter place on Earth that here. In Spring there was no more refreshing place on Earth than here. In Summer there was no greener place on Earth than
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here. In Autumn there was no more colorful place on Earth than here. Here was as pristine a place as the Garden of Eden in the dispensation of innocence. Truly this place of the Griffin Keeper was so abundant with God that even the rider on the white unicorn dared not trespass. Sir Flanders’s house, called “the Statehouse,” rested upon the southern shore of Lake Superior. The griffins’ house, called
“the Commons,” was a mile inland, right up against the edge of a great forest. Between both houses was a great sand dunes of one mile by one mile—this sand dunes was the Courtyard. Here in this sand
the war master and his twelve war griffins were training rigorously for battle. The names of the twelve griffins were the following: “Field Martial” and “Captain of the Guard” and “Chief of Staff” and “Sergeant of Arms” and “Infantry” and “Bulwark” and “Fortress” and “Galleon” and “Brigade” and “Cavalry” and “Centurion” and “Troop.” Of these these twelve griffins, the Griffin Keeper was the most close to Field Martial—his best friend and his confidante and his most decorated in battle among griffin kind. His next three most close griffins were the official watchmen of the Fifty-First State and also decorated in feats of war: these good friends were Captain of the Guard and Chief of Staff and Sergeant of Arms. And the eight other griffins were friends in war and in peace.
“Let the games begin,” said Sir Flanders. And the war games training began here in the sandy Courtyard. “Captain of the Guard, make ready.” And Captain of the Guard stepped forward. One hundred feet away from this griffin stood the Griffin Keeper, holding up in both hands a tall pole, extending a dozen feet above his head. At the top of this long pole was a transverse bar holding up pennants hanging along the bottom of its edge. These pennants were all white with Roman numerals in black, these pennants about one foot long and flapping about in the winds. Sir Flanders went on to explain the goal to this training exercise, “As you can see with your eagle eyes, Captain of the Guard, I have pennants I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII,,IX, and X held onto my crossbar with staples. They are all in random order. This crossbar is five feet across. I will call out which pennant I want you to grab in flight. But first you must begin your flight; then I will call out the number. And you must snatch it off
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the bar. You may use your beak or your claw or your paw or your tail. But I shall be swinging this long pole all about as I would my battle spear.” The Griffin Keeper proceeded now to do that; and he said, “Commence!” And Captain of the Guard lifted up into the air and charged in flight. Sir Flanders then declared “Pennant V!” And winds blew up sands into the air from the ground below. Converging upon his gallery of pennants, this mighty griffin studied the ten pennants and discerned the Roman numeral “V” upon the second rightmost pennant of the ten. And in fury of griffin, he swooped right down upon it, grabbed its bottom edge between his upper beak and his lower beak, twisted his head to the side, and tore it right off of the crossbeam, and he flew off with it in victory. And he came right back with it and lighted before his master and dropped it before his master’s feet. “Five,” said the Griffin Keeper the Roman Numeral on the pennant. “Well done, Captain of the Guard. At ease.”
Victorious at today’s war game, this griffin relaxed and became at ease.
Next the Griffin Keeper commanded, “Infantry, make ready.” And Infantry stepped forward for his turn for training today. Sir Flanders went ahead to pick up a bow and one arrow. He nocked the arrow and did go on to explain, “Infantry, I shall fire this arrow straight up into the air at a ninety degree angle. Your job is to snatch it in the air and bring it back down to me. But there are extra rules today. Of course you must not let the arrow fall back down all the way to the ground. In fact you must snatch it before it even begins to fall. Further you must wait at least until it stops climbing in the air. I call upon you this day to catch the arrow in your beak in the precise time it reaches its zenith—not before and not after its zenith. If you wish, you do not have to wait upon the ground for me. If you want you can get a head start on me by hovering in the air just above my head and to my side. Which would you prefer, Infantry?”
“Master, I would prefer to hover more than to stand,” said Infantry.
“Commence!” commanded the Griffin Keeper. And Infantry lifted up off the ground and hovered eight feet above the Earth. Sir Flanders aimed the arrow into the skies, drew back the
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bowstring, and let fly the arrow into the firmament. Like a bolt, the griffin Infantry instantaneously shot up in a ninety-degree angle and ascended as quickly as did this fired arrow. He rocketed into the Heavens and gained distance on this arrow. And he caught up to this arrow. And the arrow stopped ascending and was about to descend. And the arrow at its apex was most deftly snatched out of the air by the griffin’s mighty beak. From one thousand feet below, the Griffin Keeper watched all of this. Victorious in war game, Infantry quickly returned to his master, lighted upon the ground, and proffered Flanders the caught arrow in his beak. The Griffin Keeper said, “Well done, Infantry. You caught the arrow not one second early and not one second late. At ease.” Sir Flanders took the arrow in his right hand, and Infantry came to ease now.
Next Flanders called forth, “Centurion, make ready.” And Centurion stepped forward. The Griffin Keeper then lifted up two harnesses and an iron tow chain. He then said, “Centurion, today you shall show your prowess in a tug of war.” You may ask, ‘With whom am I having a tug-of-war?’ Allow me to summon your opponent.” And with this the griffin master gave forth a whistle through two fingers in his mouth. Lo, an adult male Black Bear came forth out of the woods in obedience to the Griffin Keeper. The Black Bear ambled up to Flanders and stopped and looked up at him. And Sir Flanders went about to put the one harness around the powerful bear; and the other harness around the lion form of the griffin Centurion. He then fastened the tow chain to the back of each harness along the backs of the necks of the two competitors. Sir Flanders then directed bear and griffin to pace a few paces to make the iron chain taut. “Boys, get ready to pull,” said the Griffin Keeper. Then the master commanded, “Commence, Centurion. Pull, Black Bear.” At first this tug-of-war looked to be a draw.
But not long later, Centurion advanced one step, and the Black Bear retreated one step. Then the griffin gained two more steps, making the full-grown bear lose two more steps. Then the griffin made three steps forward and the bear made three steps backward. Then mighty Centurion lifted up into the air with his powerful wings and did lift up the Black Bear off of his four paws. And he carried this big
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bear across the field and did set him back down at the edge of the woods. Flanders came up to the two powerful beasts and said, “Well done, Centurion. At ease.” And the griffin came back to ease. “Thank you for your help, Black Bear,” said the Griffin Keeper. And he took of the towing chain and the two harnesses. And the bear went back to the woods.
Next, Flanders summoned the next training exercise student, saying, “Field Martial, make ready.” And Field Martial stepped forward. The Griffin Keeper said, “I have in my right hand my famous LongSpear, as you can see. And over there one hundred yards away are two targets side-by-side and right next to each other. My job in this war game is to throw my spear right into the bull’s-eye of the target to the left. But your job in this war game, O Field Martial, is to knock my spear away from that bull’s-eye of the left target before it gets there so that it instead makes a bull’s-eye in the target to the right. You may fly now over there and hover above and between the two targets, and prepare yourself for my LongSpear throw. Commence, O Field Martial.” And Field Martial flew over to the two targets of colored concentric circles and hovered above and between them. And Flanders took a running start, stopped, and hurled the LongSpear a hundred yards. Field Martial scrutinized the flight of the great spear with his eagle eyes as it zeroed in toward the target to his master’s left and to his own right. Sure enough, it was aiming right for the bull’s-eye. And at just the right moment, Field Martial, in the air in-between and just above both targets swung his left eagle leg from right to left.
And he struck the middle of the flying spear along its shaft with that front griffin leg, and he did bat it to the side, and he did alter its flight. And, behold, this spear went right into the bull’s-eye of the target to his master’s right and to his own left. In jubilation, Field Martial flew back to Flanders and lighted beside his master where he stood. The Griffin Keeper could clearly see his LongSpear in the bull’s-eye
of the other target, where it was supposed to be. “Well done, Field Martial. At ease,” said the Griffin Keeper. And Field Martial fell at ease.
Next Sir Flanders called forth, “Fortress, make ready.” And Fortress stepped forward for his
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practice of the day. The Griffin Keeper said, “Do not harpies make sick to the stomach both man and griffin? Follow me, Fortress, to my little makeshift structure over here.” And Fortress followed his master to a collection of boards all set up loosely in concealment of what was within. “Now I must take away the boards,” said Flanders. He removed the boards, and, behold, a pen of six screeching and ugly and nauseating harpies. And in the midst of the six dirty birds a big boulder that no group of men could roll over. This harpy pen was circular, of chicken wire, and five feet tall, and of a diameter of fifteen feet. Sir Flanders said, “Your training this day calls you to rescue the big rock from the flock of harpies, Fortress. And you must do so without throwing up.” The noisome and hideous women birds were reaching out their sticky hands toward the griffin as he studied them in strategy. Then the Griffin Keeper said, “You may commence when you feel the time is right, Fortress.”
Fortress said, “I believe that my time is right now, Master.” And he flew into the pen of dirty rotten harpies. In this charge, the griffin scattered the six harpies right out of their own pen. For fear of their life the harpies wisely had gotten out of his way. Fortress then acted quickly while this pen was emptied of its six obstacles, and he took his two back lion paws and grabbed a powerful hold upon the both sides of the big boulder. And he began to lift up in flight with it surely held in his leonine grip.
And he began to bring it in the air off and out of the pen. But just as he came to the edge of the pen, the harpies came back. And the six harpies lighted upon his back, his bottom, his neck, his head, his shoulder, his tail. And he felt that whatever was in his belly was about to come up out of his beak.
But he forced it back down into his belly with grit and resolution and the spirit of a soldier. And he carried the big boulder over the edge of the pen and let it fall successfully on the ground outside of the harpy den. And he got out of there as fast as he could. And the six harpies, chattering in a clamor, returned to their pen. And with stubbornness, Fortress swallowed back down any last remnants of nausea. And when he came back to his master, his stomach felt well again.
“Well done, Fortress,” said the Griffin Keeper. “At ease.” And Fortress went back to ease.
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Next the Griffin Keeper called forth, “Galleon, make ready.” And Galleon now took one step forward. The master of the griffins went on to ask, “Would you say, Galleon, that I am about twenty-five feet away from you where you stand?” Sir Flanders began to pour a pitcher of cold water into a tall aluminum cup, and he held up the aluminum cup before him.
“I concur to that, Master,” said Galleon.
Sir Flanders then took a five-foot long two-by-four board and held it in the air. He asked, “And would you say that this two-by-four is sturdy, Galleon?”
“I would at that, Master,” said Galleon.
Flanders Nickels then set the aluminum cup upon the two-by-four in its center, set it upon his own head lengthwise, and removed his hands. And the cup of water and the board stayed still upon the master’s head. The Griffin Keeper said, “Galleon, this water cup is three-quarters full. Your job is to come up to me and take it from me as I stay still and you must carry it back to the line of griffins behind where you now stand. You must not spill one drop of water out of this cup in this training exercise. And you must finish this war game before I count down from ten to zero.”
“That I can do,” said Galleon.
“But you cannot hold the water cup itself, O Galleon,” said the mentor. “You must do all of this by holding on to only the two-by-four board. If the water cup is touched by any part of your body, you lose. If you tip the water cup, you lose. If you spill a drop, you lose.”
“I understand, Master,” said Galleon.
“Commence, Galleon,” said the Griffin Keeper, and he began to count down from ten. And in those ten seconds, this griffin warrior swooped in upon Sir Flanders, paused to consider and to grab the two ends of the two-by-four in his two front eagle claws, most gingerly lifted it from his master’s head, paused to study the tall water glass where it stood, then most cautiously and swiftly flew back to his fellow griffins and did set the board down upon the ground before them. Flanders came up to where
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Galleon stood, saw the water cup unmoved, and felt the board and found no spilled water drops, and he said, “Well done, Galleon. At ease.” And Galleon went to ease.
Next the Griffin Keeper said, “Sergeant of Arms, make ready.” And Sergeant of Arms now stepped forward. Sir Flanders Nickels said, “Behold, three rings through which you are to pass through in flight. These three rings are wide and high and safe.” The master then took a flaming torch and put this torch up against the three harmless rings, set them on fire, and made them no longer harmless. He went on to say, “What creature is not afraid of fire?” Then he said, “The first ring is seven feet in diameter; the second ring is six feet in diameter; the third ring is five feet in diameter. Your wingspan, Sergeant of Arms, is seven feet. The bottoms of these burning rings are six feet above the ground. You, Sergeant of Arms stand a little over six feet eagle claw to eagle head. What else do you see that I have provided for you in this training exercise, good griffin?”
And this griffin said, “I see six pools of water, one to the left and one to the right alongside each of the three burning rings into which I can plunge into in case I get set on fire.”
“Most aptly comprehended, good Sergeant of Arms,” said the Griffin Keeper. “I do not want to lose a griffin warrior from my army because of too dangerous a practice test. I may want to make you the best soldiers on Earth, but I do not want you harmed in the process. I care.” Then the griffin master took a deep breath, prayed silently for the safety of this griffin in this most dangerous war game of today’s training, and said, “Commence.”
Fearless in war game as he was in war, Sergeant of Arms at once lifted up into the air still near to the ground, and he proceeded to fly right toward the three burning rings of fire. He flew right through the first ring of fire by furling his wings inward half a foot from their edges. Then he flew right through the second ring of fire by furling his wings inward a foot and a half from their edges. And then he flew through the third ring of fire by furling in his wings inward two-and-a-half feet inward from their edges. Then he unfurled his wings straight out and did light upon the ground
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safely and soundly on the other side. “Most well done, Sergeant of Arms,” said Flanders. “At ease.”
And Sergeant of arms went at ease.
Next, Sir Flanders called forth, “Troop, make ready.” And Troop did now take his step forward.
Flanders said, “Troop, over here in the sand is a treasure chest. A treasure chest always contains and conceals and keeps treasure. And the treasure chest is always hard to open. You see this treasure chest, Troop. You can see the thick hard oak that it is made of. You can see the bands of iron that hold it together. You can see the great iron chains all around it. And you can see the great iron padlock in its front and in the center that does hold tight all the great chains. You may wonder, Troop, what is the treasure in the treasure chest? Ask me, and I will tell you.”
Troop asked, “Master, what’s in the treasure chest?”
And the Griffin Keeper said, “A pot of manna from Heaven.”
“A griffin’s favorite food indeed, O Master,” said Troop. “Such a thing as this God did feed His people of Israel back in Old Testament days. Indeed a pot of manna was stored in the ark of the covenant for a while.”
“You are wise in the Scriptures, learned Troop,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Your war game of this day is to break open this treasure chest so that you can get at the delicious manna I have stored therein. I am about to set my ringer on my wind-up clock for fifteen minutes. If you break open this treasure chest within fifteen minutes, you get to eat the manna. If you do not open this treasure chest within fifteen minutes, you do not get to eat the manna. I am setting the timer right now. Commence!”
At once did Troop run up to this treasure chest. He sought to peck at the padlock with his beak.
Nothing doing. He sought to pull the chains with his eagle talons. Nothing doing. He sought to pry at the bands of iron with his lion paws. Nothing doing. He then looked around this Courtyard with the remnants of this day’s war games thus far still spread about the sand. He studied these articles with a savvy of a warrior. He saw his master’s LongSpear still in the target over there, and he saw the
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boulder lying in the sand over there, and he saw the powerful tow chain over there in the sand. And
Troop set to work. He wedged the LongSpear’s blunt end into the two little arms of the lock that held the chains all together, its shaft now upward diagonally from the treasure chest. Then he tied one end of the chain to the LongSpear; and the other end of the chain to the big rock. Then he grabbed a hold of the rock in both claws and in both paws and lifted himself and the rock to six feet above the ground in flight. Then he dropped the boulder onto the LongSpear, and the LongSpear was driven down to the ground. Behold, the padlock broke! From there, Troop easily took away the chains, opened the treasure chest, and beheld the treasure. “Well done, Troop. You’ve still got five minutes to spare,” said the Griffin Keeper. “At ease. And do eat.” And Troop went at ease and did eat the manna.
Next, Sir Flanders called forth, “Brigade, make ready.” And Brigade stepped forward. The Griffin Keeper now took out a little infrared flashlight. He shone it down upon the bright daylight sand, and all could see a little bright red circle in the sand where the flashlight was pointing. The master said, “Pet dogs and pet cats love to play this game with their mistresses and masters. Brigade, this game is a war game. Take it seriously. I will shine this flashlight in different places upon the sane, and you are to pounce upon the red circle in the sand, before I move the circle to the next spot in the sand. I shall challenge you with twenty-five pursuits of my infrared flashlight beam, and you must attack and pounce upon all twenty-five red circles. If you get them all, I will give you a grade of “A.”
If you get all of them, but miss one of them, I will give you a “B.” If you miss two, you get a “C.” If you miss three or more you get a “D.” There are no “F’s” for a grade in my war games. Brigade, commence.” And the Griffin Master shone his little infrared beam throughout the sands of this Courtyard not at all near where he was standing. And each time Brigade either ran or flew to the little red circle and pounced upon it in time. This rigor was even more exhausting than battle for the seasoned griffin warrior. Yet after twenty-five attempts, Brigade scored a perfect score. “’A’ for the day, good Brigade,” said Sir Flanders. “Well done. At ease.” And Brigade went at ease.
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Next, the griffin master said, “Chief of Staff, make ready.” And Chief of Staff stepped forward.
Sir Flanders then said, “I would like a ride on the ground. Commence.” And Chief of Staff lowered his back, and Flanders mounted him. And the griffin began to run upon the sand on his way he knew not. Then the Griffin master said, “Go now toward 0 degrees longitude and 50 degrees north latitude.” In obedience, Chief of Staff turned about and began to run toward London. “Correct,” praised the master his griffin soldier. Then he said, “Go now toward 130 degrees east longitude and 25 degrees south latitude.” And turning about the griffin began to tun toward the deserts of Australia. “Correct,” Sir Flanders praised him. Then he said, “Run to 80 degrees west longitude and ten degrees north latitude.” Turning about, this griffin Chief of Staff began to run toward the Isthmus of Panama. “Correct” said the Griffin Keeper again. “Now take me toward 70 degrees west longitude and 80 degrees north latitude.” Turning about, Chief of Staff began to run a beeline toward the northern cold waters of the Baffin Bay. “Correct,” this griffin in training did hear again. “Now, good Chief of Staff, take me to 90 degrees west longitude and 45 degrees north latitude,” said the master. And in obedience and savvy, this griffin returned his keeper back to where all the other griffins were waiting in the Courtyard of the Fifty-First State. “Correct, Chief of Staff,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Well done. At ease.” And Chief of Staff went at ease.
Next, Flanders Nickels announced, “Cavalry, make ready.” And this griffin took one step forward. “Good Cavalry, my favorite puzzles are mazes. Your war game today is a maze that I have drawn in the sand. Look off to the north a tenth of a mile. Do you see it?”
“I surely do now, Master,” said Cavalry.
“The lanes of the maze are three feet wide. The walls of the maze are one-inch wide lines. And a more complex labyrinth no man can draw. This maze measures one acre,” the Griffin Keeper went on to explain. He then took out a little hourglass from his shirt pocket. “Do you know what this is, Cavalry?” asked the griffin’s master.
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And this griffin said, “I believe that that is called an ‘egg-timer.’ my master.”
“That this is,” said the Griffin Keeper. “It measures to precisely three minutes. Your mission is to get all the way through this maze before the sands of this egg-timer all sink to the bottom. The entrance to the maze is between those two weeping willows in the center of this side.”
“I see the entrance,” said Cavalry. “But I see not any landmarks for the exit.”
“The exit is for you to find when you get there,” said Sir Flanders. “Only I know right now where the exit of the maze is.”
“Master, all I need to is to fly over the maze and get a bird’s-eye view of it, and I can finish it in no time,” said Cavalry.
“In this training exercise there is no flying allowed. You must do this war game on your feet,” said the master.
“If I were a centaur, I could cross over a ‘wall’ on purpose,” said the griffin.
“Griffins don’t cheat,” said Sir Flanders. “God has endowed your kind without the sin of cheating.”
“I am ready for the test, Master,” said Cavalry.
“Commence,” said the Griffin Keeper, and he turned the egg-timer over and set it upon his palm and rested it there. And, as fast as the griffin ran up to the entrance of the maze, not so very much less fast did he work his way through the maze in the sand.
And surely did he come bounding out of the exit of the maze in the sight of the master and at once was before him once again. Cavalry looked upon the egg-timer before him. “Master, I won,” said the griffin. “I beat the tiny hourglass.”
“Well done, At ease, Cavalry,” said the Griffin Keeper. And this griffin rested at ease.
Next and last for this day of practice and training, Sir Flanders Nickels called out, “Bulwark, make ready.” And Bulwark took a step forward. The Griffin Keeper then said, “You do know what
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happened to the forefather of all griffins long, long ago.”
“I do, O Master,” said Bulwark. “Legend has it that he drowned in the Euphrates River.”
“And ever since then griffins have found an innate sense of fear of drowning.” said Sir Flanders. “Is that true?”
“It is true,” said the griffin. “Both the tale and the fear have been brought down generation-to-generation throughout all griffindom.”
“You shall cross a river on an elevated hemp rope for the cause of training this day, Bulwark,” said Flanders Nickels.
“I shall do such indeed, Master,” said the griffin.
“Do you see the river, Bulwark?” asked the master, pointing to the south.
“I do,” said the griffin. “It is the Michigamme River.”
“And do you see the thick hemp rope suspended twenty feet above it?” asked Sir Flanders.
“I do indeed,” said the griffin with the eagle eyes.
“I put up that rope for this day’s practice,” said Flanders.
“I am to walk across it from this shore to the other shore and back again to this shore. Aren’t I, O Master?” asked Bulwark. Sir Flanders nodded. “And I must not fly.” said the griffin. And Sir Flanders nodded again.
“May I give three good words of counsel, O Bulwark,” said the master. “One–’Do not look below.’ Two–’Do not look above.’ Three–’Look only straight ahead.’”
“I shall obey my master,” said Bulwark.
“Good luck, good griffin Bulwark,” said Flanders. “God be with you.”
Then they walked together up to the river. “Commence,” declared the Griffin Keeper. And Bulwark stepped out onto the thick hemp rope twenty feet above the river so full of flowing and deep and cold water. Overcoming his fears, he then stepped out onto the rope and began his war game of the
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day. And with the wisdom of his kind, this griffin also added as advice to the advice that was given him, his advice telling him “Do not look upon the rope as you walk.” And in bravery, Bulwark successfully crossed and recrossed this tightrope above the river.
“Well done, Bulwark,” praised the Griffin Keeper. “At ease.” And Bulwark came to great ease, his form safe upon the dry land.
Then master and pets gathered back together in this sandy Courtyard, and the griffins’ master said, “Dinner is on me. It awaits you twelve in the Commons. I am giving each of you a silver pot of manna. Great are the griffins of the Griffin Keeper. I love you all.”
And the Griffin Keeper’s twelve mighty griffins all gave forth a resounding glory to God, saying, “Amen, Master!”
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CHAPTER III
The Griffin Keeper was gathered together with his four main griffins in the basement of the Commons, the house of the twelve griffins. This basement had a meeting room and storage room and recreation room and utility room and book room. Right now the five were in the meeting room, wherein was a simple bench upon which Sir Flanders did sit and four perches in front of the bench upon which the four griffins did perch. The Commons was an edifice twelve stories high, built of red brick, and with many marble columns. The twelve griffins had twelve floors all to themselves, one floor each per one griffin each. The first through eighth floor were for the eight lesser griffins; the ninth through eleventh floor were for the three greater griffins, the watchmen griffins; the twelfth floor was for the chief griffin, Flanders’s best friend of the griffins. The lesser griffins’ floors were in the shape of equilateral triangles. The greater three griffins’ floors were in the shape of squares. And the chief griffin’s floor was in the shape of a pentagon. All throughout this Commons’s outer walls were sliding wooden red “barn doors.” for exits and entrances for the griffins and their floors, heavy doors that slid along pulleys to one side and to the other laterally. And there were balconies without railings—platforms as such– before these sliding doors for the lighting down of the griffins. And in the
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middle of the Commons, from this basement all the way to the top floor, was a system of rungs that
served as a ladder for the Griffin Keeper to come into this home of his griffins and to go up and down in it.
The Griffin Keeper said, “I now call this meeting to order.
“Of what are we going to discuss today, Master?” asked Field Martial.
“I was thinking that we could talk about our foes in battle against which we must someday fight,” said Sir Flanders.
“Ah,” said Captain of the Guard, “the four unicornmen of the Apocalypse.”
“More like the four unicornmen and their four unicorns,” said Sergeant of Arms. “Those unicorns are almost as bad as their riders.”
“Battling the unicornmen is bad enough, but with their unicorns, the battle is all the more difficult for us griffins of God,” said Chief of Staff.
“The magic of the unicorns is great, and the magic of their riders is greater yet,” said Field Martial.
“Take heart, comrades,” said the Griffin Keeper. “We serve a powerful and wise God.” Then he said further, “And does not all this world talk about the Griffin Keeper and his mighty griffins? The world rightly fears you four and the rest of us who live here. You beloved griffins are regarded as Earth’s twelve most great griffins of griffins. We thirteen are a force for good on this Earth. And the Devil just hates us. And his Antichrist and his False Prophet do not know what to do with us. With us here in the Fifty-First State, we are a stumbling block against evil upon this world here in the tribulation. The Lord loves us.”
“Your cocoa, Master,” said Field Martial.
“I best not let it get lukewarm,” said Sir Flanders. And he took a good satisfying drink from his mug.
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Then the Griffin Keeper asked, “What happened immediately after the rapture of the church had taken place?”
And all four answered, “Then came the Antichrist.”
“The rider on the white unicorn and his white unicorn began to march throughout the Earth,” said the Griffin Keeper. “It is written, ‘And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat upon him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.’ Revelation 6:1-2.”
“The first unicornman of the apocalypse,” said Field Martial.
“The bow in his hand without any arrows signifies that he comes in peaceably,” said Captain of the Guard. “He promises peace, but he does not really mean peace. This Antichrist is a deceiver and a liar just like the Devil. But he steals the heart of all the unsaved of the world.”
“And where the Bible says there that a crown was given unto him, that means that he becomes the potentate of all the world. He quite becomes the ruler of the world,” said Chief of Staff.
“He went forth conquering and to conquer,” said Sergeant of Arms. “And he conquered this world of the tribulation that we are in now without shedding the blood of war.”
“The evil man has charisma, great intellect, a commanding presence, and the great desire for great power,” said Field Martial. “He especially has an insatiable pride of life in his wicked heart.”
“And he is indwelt by Satan,” said the Griffin Keeper. “He is part of the unholy trinity—The Devil, the Antichrist, the False Prophet.”
“And as for his white unicorn,” said Field Martial, “why, he flies and has wings.”
“Who has ever heard of a unicorn with wings?” asked Sir Flanders. “He is the only unicorn who can fly in all of this Earth!”
“Devil’s work,” said Chief of Staff.
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“Only our God is the Creator,” said Captain of the Guard. “The Good Lord is the only One Who can make life. Even the Devil himself cannot make life.”
“The Devil is the great imitator of God,” said Sergeant of Arms. “God is the Maker, and the Devil is a transformer. He took a good white unicorn made by God and worked a work on that good white unicorn and gave him wings and changed his heart. Now the white unicorn brings his rider up and down in the Earth and to and fro in it.”
“I would bet that there is a demon or two or several dwelling inside that evil white unicorn,” said Sir Flanders.
“He is a prince of the power of the air,” said Field Martial, “which is a Bible title for the Devil”
“Then came the second unicornman of the Apocalypse,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“The unicornman on the red unicorn and his red unicorn,” said Chief of Staff.
“It is he who has plunged this world into World War III going on right now,” said Field Martial.
“People on Earth call his name ‘War.’” said Sergeant of Arms.
“It is written, ‘And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.’ Revelation 6:3-4,” recited the Griffin Keeper.
“Master, his sword is almost as long as your LongSpear,” said Field Martial.
“The red unicorn is the exact same shade of red as is the shed blood of man,” said Captain of the Guard.
“His conquests throughout the Earth in this tribulation are with much shedding of blood in battle,” said Chief of Staff.
“They say that the red unicorn shoots fire out of his mouth,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“That is true,” said the Griffin Keeper. “He can burn up and burn down with his fires from
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within anything that his rider tells him to.”
“And even more troops are killed in battle by the rider’s sword than by the red unicorn’s fires,” said Field Martial.
Sir Flanders went on to say, “The rider on the red unicorn needs not to strike one physically with his sword to kill him. Nay, all the rider on the red unicorn needs to do is simply to swing his sword about in the air, and, lo, a savage frenzy comes upon any man and any beast that may be anywhere near him. That is, all near to him when he brandishes his sword thus fall upon a great desire to kill. The closer a soldier is to the sword, the greater is his need to kill; the farther a soldier is from the sword, the lesser is his lust to kill. And by now this rider’s sword’s power of madness has spread through all the world here in this current Third World War..”
“Hence, Master, the phrase ‘and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth’ in that Bible verse,” said Field Martial.
“He divides friend from friend, loved one from loved one, master from pet,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Just think about how terrible it is for the soldier who is killed by direct contact with that sword,
compared to what a soldier endures who is killed not by direct contact with that sword.” said Chief of Staff.
“They say that when War strikes a man or woman down with his sword physically, that that man or that woman dies a dozen deaths,” said Captain of the Guard.
“Master, tell us all about the third unicornman of this Apocalypse,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“Yes, tell us about the rider on the black unicorn and of his black unicorn,’ said Field Martial.
And the Griffin Keeper agreed and said, “Is it not written in Revelation 6:7-8, the following?:
‘And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the
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midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny: and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’”
“That rider on the black unicorn Is often called ‘Famine and Drought,’” said Chief of Staff.
“He brings hunger and thirst wherever he goes,” said Field Martial.
“He makes people sick and faint,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“He brings to the world what happens after war has passed upon the land,” said Captain of the Guard.
“Those who do not die from War die from Famine and Drought,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“And what a nasty balance scale that he does wield,” said Field Martial. “He hold it up, takes out of his saddlebag a little white stone with a person’ s name in black letters on it and sets it in the one dish. Then he takes a little black stone with his own name on it in white letters from his saddlebag and sets that in the other dish. And we all know what happens then.”
“The black stone being heavy, and the white stone being light, the balance scale tips in favor of the black and against the favor of the white. And the one whose name is on the white stone, unless his stone is taken out of the dish soon after, dies of hunger and thirst,” said Sir Flanders.
“Then the rider on the black unicorn throws the white stone and the black stone away off to the side and goes on with his business like nothing happened,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“Or he goes on to pick out another pair of stones from his saddlebags and strikes down dead another person or beast,” said Captain of the Guard.
“And the black unicorn,” said Chief of Staff, “who can stand against him?”
“His hide is covered in armor plates,” said Captain of the Guard.
“His hooves are made of cast iron,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“His unicorn horn is made of diamond,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“His unicorn horn is almost as long as the LongSpear,” said Field Martial.
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“They say that the black unicorn slew the world’s last dragon,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“I would not want to stand against him alone,” said Field Martial.
“And then there is the fourth unicornman of the Apocalypse,” said Sir Flanders Nickels. “His name is called simply, ‘Death.’ And it is said that ‘Hell’ follows him.”
“Do tell us Revelation 6:7-8, good Master,” said Field Martial. “The rider on the pale unicorn and the pale unicorn.”
“It is written therein,” began the Griffin Keeper to recite this pair of verses, “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
Field Martial went on to say, “So far the rider on the pale unicorn has slain one-and-a-half billion people out of the six billion people who live on this Earth.”
“A slaughter that reaches up to Heaven,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“A slaughter that reaches down to Hell,” said Captain of the Guard.
“A genocide worse than Hitler’s Jewish holocaust,” said Chief of Staff.
“A genocide worse than Mao Tse Tung’s mass murder of his own people,” said Field Martial.
“Who better to do that than Death himself?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Death wields a mean sickle,” said Field Martial.
“When Death strikes down a man with his sickle, that man is stricken into the sleep of a nightmare of Hell. He dreams that he is literally in the fires of Hell,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“And Death also wields a mean scythe,” said Chief of Staff.
“When Death strikes down a man with his scythe, that man is smitten dead at once, and that man goes to the life hereafter, most likely to the real Hell with the real Hellfire,” said Sir Flanders.
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Then Sir Flanders went on to ask, “And what do we know about this Hell that follows after Death on this pale unicorn?”
“This Hell that follows after is that which the pale unicorn does summon with his black magic,” said Field Martial.
“The pale unicorn toots a dirge on his unicorn horn, and in this way he does summon demons up to the Earth from Hell below,” said Chief of Staff.
“We do not know how many demons the pale unicorn can bring up from Hell,” said Captain of the Guard.
“But it is a little phalanx of demons at that,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“The most demons counted at any one time from the work of the pale unicorn was a dozen,” said Field Martial.
“Twelve little devils,” said Sir Flanders.
“Spirit beings who can do spiritual battle against us physical warriors who fight physical battles,” surmised Sergeant of Arms.
“I do not know about you other griffins,” said Field Martial, “but the one I least want to meet in battle is the pale unicorn.”
“That unicorn horn is worse than any sword if it brings up fallen angels,” said Chief of Staff.
“Unicorns and riders of unicorns I do not fear,” said Captain of the Guard. “But unclean spirits
I do fear.”
“Fear not this Hell that follows after,” said the griffin master to his four chief griffins. “Demons can fall in battle at the hands of our God just as easily as wicked mortals can fall in battle at the hands of our God. God wills us to fight all evil for His good cause. Fear not the Devil’s minions.”
Exhorted duly thus, the four chief griffins of the Griffin Keeper went on to say, “Amen! Amen!”
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Then Sir Flanders Arckery Nickels, the mighty Griffin Keeper, the wielder of the LongSpear, and the Lord’s greatest warrior, once again declared their ministry for the Lord as griffin master and twelve griffin soldiers: “We thirteen are called of God to slay in battle the four unicornmen and their four unicorns of the Apocalypse in God’s time and in God’s way.”
“Amen! Amen! Amen!” said the four chief griffins.
“Praise the Lord!” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” repeated the four main griffins.
“I hereby close this meeting,” said Sir Flanders. And the three watchmen of the Commons returned to their homes near the top of this towering edifice. And Field Martial remained with his master all alone down here in the cozy basement.
“Master, I see cares in your face again,” said Sir Flanders’s best friend in life.
“I still think and wonder and wish,” said the pensive soldier.
“It is your Fair Lady Guinevere again. Isn’t it, O Master?” asked Field Martial.
“The girlfriend that I have never found,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Your Song of Guinevere,” said his griffin confidant. “Your many prayers that God bring a Christian girlfriend into your lonesome life.”
“I am a little lonely being the only saved person in all the world,” said Sir Flanders.
“There are no saved women out there anywhere for you, Master?” asked Field Martial.
“None that I know of,” said Sir Flanders. “To find a born-again Christian lady here in the world of this tribulation I know not where to look.”
“God can find her for you if there be such a girl, Master,” said Field Martial.
“And not only must she be a born-again believer, but also she must be living for God in her daily walk,” said Sir Flanders.
“Just exactly as God would will for His son,” said Field Martial about Sir Flanders.
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“Does my Heavenly Father also have a daughter out there beyond my Fifty-First State?” asked Sir Flanders Nickels.
“If He does, she is probably praying for God to bring into her life a born-again Christian guy who is living for the Lord,” surmised the griffin of griffins out loud.
“What a thing to say!” said Sir Flanders. “The world’s only man believer and the world’s only woman believer both praying for companionship thus.”
“God works in mysterious ways,” said Field Martial.
“You make me to hope, O good and great friend,” said Flanders Nickels.
“We both know better than to pray that God bring an unbeliever as a girlfriend into your lonely life, Master,” said Field Martial.
“If I were to start dating a lost girl, myself quite already saved, I could start to backslide on Jesus, That would be most bad thing for me and for you and for God,” said Sir Flanders.
“Were you to date and fall in love with an unsaved girlfriend, Master…Woe!” exclaimed his best friend griffin.
“She would cause the fall of the Griffin Keeper for sure,” said Sir Flanders. “You know what the Bible has to say to prodigal Christians who slide back into sin, O Field Martial.
“Yes, lots of bad things would happen to a believer dating an unbeliever,” said Field Martial. “Things such as losing his fellowship with Christ and losing his blessings from God down here and losing his rewards waiting for him in Heaven Up There and ruining his Christian testimony and losing his answers to his prayers and losing his joy in the Lord,” said his wise and learned griffin.
“Just think how many bad things I would be tempted to do with an unsaved girlfriend that I would never be tempted to do with a saved girlfriend. I do shudder in fear of going after a girlfriend of whom the Word of God says, ‘This is not the girl for you, O Flanders,’” said the Griffin Keeper. “And the same truth goes for me in my dating life with a woman believer who is not living for Christ, too,”
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said Sir Flanders.
“A saved woman can do the same kinds of sins that a lost woman will do if she be not living for Christ,” said this griffin of griffins.
“Such a girl as that is called ‘a carnal believer,’” said Sir Flanders.
“A carnal believer is not the girl for you, either, Master,” said Field Martial.
“Regarding a born-again woman, one must ask about her, not ‘How much of the Holy Spirit does she have?’ but rather ‘How much of her does the Holy Spirit have?’ And that depends upon that Christian girl’s heart,” said Sir Flanders Nickels.
“Only a woman as spiritual as yourself is the woman for you, O Master,” said Field Martial, “indeed a woman of today like the two women in the Bible Ruth and Esther.”
“Ruth found Boaz as husband; Esther had Mordecai as uncle,” said Sir Flanders.
“And God can find for you this ‘Guinevere’ out there as girlfriend-in-Christ, Master,” said the griffin confidant.
“The Guinevere of the tales of the knights of the Middle Ages had three suitors—King Arthur and Sir Lancelot and Sir Gawain,” said Flanders Nickels.
“The Fair Lady Guinevere in this world of the tribulation will be yours alone,” said Field Martial.
“I do know that God does not make mistakes,” said Flanders. “Just because He has not given me a girlfriend, it does not mean that He made a mistake. And it does not mean that the Lord went and forgot about me, either. As I say in my prayers, ‘You, God, Who died on the cross for me, make no mistakes and have not overlooked Your humble servant in search for a girlfriend. Whether I am alone or whether I find my beautiful companion girl, I know that God is always right and never wrong in what He gives me and in what He does not give me.”
“Master, remember the Bible verse that you shared with me the other day about all of these
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things,” said the sagacious griffin friend.
“Yes, good friend Field Martial,” said Flanders Nickels. “Psalm 84:11: ‘For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
“Verily, Master, who in this world walks more uprightly than the renowned Griffin Keeper?” bragged this griffin of griffins on his formidable master.
“If I be so, then God is not withholding anything from me that is good,” said Sir Flanders.
“Your prayers for a girlfriend may not be a need, but rather only a want,” said Field Martial.
“I never thought of my Song of Guinevere to be a want and not a need before,” said Flanders.
“Further, Master, do ponder this if you would, but maybe finding a girlfriend would end up being a bad thing for you—even if she is saved and spiritual,” said Field Martial.
“I do admit that I would not know what to do with a girl if I had her,” said Flanders.
“Or, maybe, if you did find a good Christian lady to date, it could end up being a bad thing for her,” said his insightful griffin.
“Maybe my curiosity about female things might come up in my lonesome life,” said Sir Flanders, “and I would end up hurting her somehow.”
“Take comfort, good Master,” said Field Martial. “God may in His time and in His way and in His will give you that good thing of female companionship.”
“I am beginning now to think that with new hopes, blessed Field Martial,” said Sir Flanders Nickels.
“At the time when He feels that you are ready for her, Master,” said his best friend in his life.
“I’ll be ready when God is ready,” promised Sir Flanders.
“To God be such glory,” said the griffin of griffins.
“Amen and Amen!” praised the Griffin Keeper his Heavenly Father.
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CHAPTER IV
Lady Jenny Jubilee and Lady Tracy Westwind were on their way to the Brown County Theme Park, the women riding Jennifer’s pet donkey. Lady Jennifer reached forward her hand and petted her donkey on the back of its neck and said, “Good and strong and handsome Journeyman. I love you.”
“What about me, Jen?’” asked Tracy. “I am your best friend. Don’t you love me as a friend as well?”
“I do, good and faithful and stubborn Tracy,” said Lady Jenny.
“I like the ‘good’ and the ‘faithful,’ but I don’t like the ‘stubborn,” said Lady Tracy. “You forget about all the times that this Journeyman was stubborn.”
“I look forward to the show we get to see at the theme park today,” said Lady Jenny,
“Will it be all about a Bible verse again?” asked Tracy Westwind.
“Uh huh, Trace,’” said Jenny Jubilee.
“They are always all about Bible verses,” said Lady Tracy. “Does it always have to be that way?”
“Yes,” said Lady Jenny. “God has made these theme parks for our enjoyment, and the theme parks belong to God.”
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“Well, I hope that it is real good this time, too, like every time, Jen,’” said Tracy Westwind.
“What God does in his theme parks is way better than going to the theater.”
“Indeed visions from the Lord,” said Lady Jenny.
“Or dreams,” said Lady Tracy. “Wild!”
Just then the donkey Journeyman gave forth a heehaw, and a rabbit ran off away from him. “I did not see the rabbit,” said Lady Jenny.
“I did, but I didn’t say anything,” said Lady Tracy.
“Journeyman only wanted to play,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Scaredy-cat rabbit afraid of a nice donkey like that,” said Tracy Westwind. “Journeyman, you love animals, just as I do.” And Tracy petted the benevolent playful donkey along his right side as she rode. And the donkey heehawed again just to make Tracy Westwind happy.
“I finished reading through my whole King James Bible again yesterday,” said Lady Jenny.
“If you think that that’s something, I went and kissed a cute guy again yesterday,” said Tracy.
“Did you give him a hug, too?” asked Jennifer.
“He gave me a hug,” said Tracy.
“What is that like?” asked Jenny, lonesome without a boyfriend.
“A kiss is like you get dizzy even with your eyes closed,”said Tracy. “And a hug is like you and your boyfriend are one person.”
“I never got to do anything like those things yet,” said Lady Jennifer.
“He’s an older guy,” said Tracy Westwind.
“How much older?” asked Jenny.
“He’s twenty,” said Tracy.
“And you’re nineteen,” said Jenny.
“In his eyes, I’m a younger woman,” said Lady Tracy.
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Just then the donkey brayed once again, and he stopped his travels, and he raised his gaze upward at a sign before them. The two girls looked ahead now and looked upon what caught Journeyman’s attention. This sign was on a big board above their heads, whose width measured left and right across the road, and of which was held up by two tall thick wooden posts like unto little telephone poles. Jenny and Tracy read it out loud simultaneously, “Brown County Theme Park.”
“We’re here, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
Knowing the way of theme parks, the two women then looked to the right of this big wooden sign to read out loud together today’s theme on a shorter smaller wooden sign on a single post off to the side, “It is written, ‘Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:’ Psalm 148:8.”
“Is that it?” asked Tracy. “Is that all?”
“Oh, I can’t wait to see this one,” said Lady Jennifer.
“What does it say?” asked Lady Tracy.
“It sounds like weather, Trace,’” said Jenny.
“It sounds like all kind of weather to me,” said Tracy Westwind.
“Exciting weather at that,” said Jennifer.
“More like bad weather, Jen,’” complained Lady Tracy.
“Our Good Lord is the Author of weather,” said Lady Jenny.
“All the weathermen say that Mother Nature is,” said Miss Westwind.
“Unless it gets so bad that everyone calls it ‘an act of God,’ girl,” chided Lady Jenny.
“God is powerful,” conceded Tracy. “Who else can make a tornado like He does?”
Then the two girls dismounted the donkey. Lady Jennifer said, “Stay right here, Journeyman.
We women will be right back.”
Miss Westwind then asked, “Jen,’ how is it with these theme parks, that even though the dreams are so long, that even when we finally do come back to your donkey, it is still like we have just come
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right back?”
“Our God works in mysterious ways, Tracy,” said Lady Jenny Jubilee.
“Enough said at that,” said Miss Westwind.
“Be right back, Journeyman,” said Lady Jennifer again. And at once the two young women ran side-by-side right through the gate and into the vision.
At once Jenny Jubilee found herself in a brand new world of lush verdant and vast lawn of grass. Behold, a ladder set up on the Earth that must surely reach up to Heaven. Lady Jenny said to God, “This must be just like Jacob’s ladder of Genesis 28, Lord.” This ladder was an extension ladder reaching endlessly up into the firmament at a ninety degree angle to the land, made of wood, and with strong round rods for rungs, each rung one foot higher than the rung before it. Looking around, Lady Jennifer saw herself alone here. She knew also that Tracy were here, also, and also that she were alone. She did not see Lady Tracy, and she knew that Lady Tracy did not see her, either. When two or more visitors to a theme park went through the gates simultaneously, though they shared the same vision, they saw them in different planes. With the heart of an older tomboy, Lady Jenny at once began to climb this perpetual ladder, her boots doing the climbing, and her hands holding on tightly to the sides of this ladder, and her mind counting her steps. And after a while the Holy Ghost said to her, “Good daughter, stop and rest when you stand upon the one hundredth rung of my ladder.” And when she came up onto the one hundredth rung, hanging onto the ladder tightly one hundred feet above the ground, Miss Jenny Jubilee obeyed the Word of God. And when she stopped to rest, lo, her soul was suddenly in another realm. She saw a group of people of all ages standing around a bonfire of branches and sticks and logs. It was dark and warm as of a summer night in the countryside. And she saw a little white Baptist church not far away. This must be the church and its flock that was enjoying this bonfire here in the pleasant dark of night. One person of the flock said, “Praise the Lord!” Another person of this flock said, “Thank You, God!” Another said, “Amen!” And still another said, “Jesus
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saves!” Lady Jenny came running up to them and said, “Alleluia!” And they all called back to her, “Hallelujah!” She felt the heat of this God-honoring bonfire upon her form in this warmth outside, and she rejoiced in her Saviour in this merry time with these other believers. Thinking upon her beloved favorite outfit that she put on every day, she cautioned herself not to get too close to this good bonfire, lest she singe the edges of her lace flounces of her black skirt.. And the Lord kept her safe and secure in His will. This flock around the bonfire began to sing “Amazing Grace,” and she sang along with them. Then she began to sing “Rock of Ages,’ and they sang along with her. Then, just like that, she found her soul back upon the one hundredth rung of this eternal ladder. Jenny knew that what she had just experienced was a vision within a vision. And she knew that this dream was a tale made up by the Lord in reference to the word “fire” in today’s Bible verse of this theme park. The Lord had purposefully taken this word “fire” out of context of this Psalm 148:8 and made a happy, virtual event out of it. These theme parks of the Lord were not always for instruction, but rather sometimes for entertainment to His Christians and any other people who wanted an escape from the troubles of the world of the tribulation. Upon the one hundredth rung, Lady Jenny then heard the Holy Spirit say to her, “Climb up to the two hundredth rung and rest there and catch your breath.” And she did so, resuming her ladder climbing and her count of the ladder rungs ever upward. And when she was two hundred feet high, she stopped and waited upon Jesus. Behold, just like that she was in a cool fall day with the leaves coming down all around her. And she saw happy little children playing in the leaf piles. Though the sky was gray and the wind was strong, there was no unhappiness here among the children at play in the leaves. Lady Jennifer then heard something. She stopped, looked down, and listened with her ears to what this sound was. It was like little ice pellets bouncing off of a hard surface. She then looked up and she saw them. “Hail!” cried out the young children with the wonder of youth. “It’s hailing out now here, Lord,” said the young adult Jenny in glee. She heard the hailstones bounce off of her cowgirl hat. The hail was all about a quarter-inch in diameter. And upon whomever they fell, no
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one got hurt. All of the children left their romp in the leaves behind and began a romp among the hail. One little boy opened his mouth and caught the hail in his teeth. One little girl held out her palms and caught some hail on her hands. A young teenager was standing and counting the hail that was falling into a square he had made with four big sticks upon the ground. And the more adventurous older teenagers were having hail fights, throwing hailstones at each other. Then suddenly Lady Jenny found herself standing upon this rung number 200 of this eternal ladder once again in today’s theme park dream. Jenny knew this vision that God had presented to her was for the word, “hail” of this day’s Bible verse. And next the still small voice of the Holy Spirit bade her to climb another one hundred rungs ever higher and stop and rest. She did so and counted and stepped up upon rung number three hundred, now three hundred feet above the ground. And God sent another dream for her to enjoy and to find gladness. Here she found herself in a Christmas tree farm in the winter with snow upon the ground and upon all these short little evergreens. And snow filled the air as well, its flakes large and gentle, falling to the ground from the heavens. “Merry Christmas, Carol,” said a young man to a young woman, and they kissed in romance. Lo, along came a group of Madrigal singers in Madrigal attire. They began to decorate these petite evergreens out here with silver tinsel and with gold garland. And Christmas trees were made here outside in the snow. And the singers began to sing the carols “Wassail, Wassail, All Over the Town,” and “Here We Come A’wassailing.” Knowing how men felt toward women with snow falling upon their head, Lady Jenny took off her cowgirl hat and let the large beautiful snowflakes from God fall upon her golden curls. And the snow highlighted her comely young woman’s head. Then a handsome fellow called out to her, “You look pretty, miss, with that snow in your hair.” And she said, “Thank you, kind sir.” Then she was again back upon the ladder to the heavens above. She found her cowgirl hat still in her hands. And she put it back on her head. Jenny thought upon this Christmas dream, and she knew this to be an allegory for the word “snow” in this Bible verse for the day. Again the Holy Ghost told her to climb up this ladder another one hundred
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rungs and to stop and rest from her labors of climbing. And she did so and stopped and rested, standing upon the four hundredth rung of this everlasting ladder. And at four hundred feet in the air, she found herself again in another place up here. This looked to be a playground of a little one-room schoolhouse in the countryside of olden days. About fifty pupils from kindergarten to twelfth grade were enjoying recess. And it was raining very hard out here. And the season was spring. And all the children were playing in the rain and enjoying the rain as their age would seek to enjoy the rain. One very little girl was singing, “Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.” But she was skipping about and loving the rain. One very little boy was singing, “It’s raining. It’s pouring. The old man is snoring.” A boy a little older had his bare feet under the downspout of the little schoolhouse and letting the rain water off of the roof pour down the pipe and splash about upon his feet. And a girl a little older was walking barefoot through the big puddles, careful not to splash any of this rain water up upon her dress. As for Lady Jennifer, she was loving this rain just as much as were the pupils in this recess. She took off her cowgirl hat to let her golden curls get drenched with this great rain. And the raindrops began to drip off of her golden head into her eyes and down her face and off of her hair all about her head. And then she realized that this rain so fun may not be so good for her favorite clothes. She looked upon herself and saw her long-sleeved shirt and her vest all wet and dripping and somewhat uncomfortable now. She saw her skirt all wet and dripping upon her feet; its black denim was a darker black, and its black lace was clinging to her upper legs unattractively. Her tights were suddenly rough to her legs. And her cowgirl boots did not shine now in their leather. But Lady Jenny trusted in her God. And she prayed, “Good Lord Jesus, would you fix up my special outfit to be once again good as new?” And she left this in God’s wise and mighty hands. And just like that, the young Christian woman was back on the ladder, herself drenched inside and outside. And Jenny J. Jubilee came to see that this little dream of the schoolyard was meant for the word “vapour,” in today’s Psalm 148:8. Then the Lord told her, “My daughter, climb up my ladder another one hundred feet, and your journey will come to its climax.” And
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the faithful daughter of God climbed up to the five hundredth rung of this everlasting ladder. And at five hundred feet above ground, this very great ladder came to its end. And up here was a sturdy wooden platform five feet wide by five feet long. And Lady Jenny stepped up upon this platform, stood upon it in faith of the God of safety, and waited for what she thought would be a fifth little adventure into other worlds with this ladder. But instead a strong breeze came upon her from the west.
It was a mighty zephyr. And storms of wind and thunder and lightning came upon her here on this platform. But no precipitation of any kind descended upon her here at the top of the ladder to the firmaments. The gale was strong; but her God of protection, stronger. And Lady Jenny knew herself to be safe in God’s careful hands even up here five hundred feet high. And as she stood there in puzzlement at what God was doing for her here right now in this theme park at its conclusion for her, she saw her hair cease from its dripping. And she began to feel her clothes less wet now in this mighty wind. And she understood that this was a wind that would dry off a girl who had been caught in a rainstorm. And she stood there in the wind, thanking God over and over, as God’s wind made her dry gradually and surely. And her hair was the first to dry completely. Then her clothes got all dry completely. Then her inner clothes got all dry completely. And then her form within was all dry and comfortable again. Then the dry west wind ceased up here. And Lady Jennifer studied all the articles of clothing that she had on. And to her joy, all the pieces of her favorite outfit were made as good as new with the Lord’s handiwork.. And the Christian gal knew this to be the part of this dream predicted upon the part of today’s Scripture verse that said, “stormy wind fulfilling his word:” And she thanked the Lord with effusion. Then the Good Lord said, “Good and faithful daughter. I lived what you lived in this vision. I saw what you saw. I heard what you heard. I felt what you felt. I thought what you thought. I rejoiced in what you rejoiced. Go back down this ladder now. Go back to my world of the Earth. Rejoin your friend. Return to your donkey. My blessings be upon you. Live on and be prosperous. Selah.” And in obedience, Jenny Joy Jubilee, happy after another vision from this Brown
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County Theme Park, did just that. She climbed down this expansive ladder five hundred steps back down to the green lawn. And she stepped one step away from this ladder that reached the skies, and, behold, she and Tracy were coming back out of the gate of this park into the natural world. And there was happy Journeyman, here to greet her and to welcome her back. Lady Jennifer ran up to her pet donkey, cooed like a dove, and put her head alongside of the donkey’s head and hugged him around the shoulders, and she kissed him on his head. He kissed her back on her face with his tongue, and he gave forth a “heehaw.”
Then Lady Trace Westwind said, “What a bummer of a ladder.”
“You did not care for the ladder to Heaven, Tracy?” asked Jenny.
“No. Not at all. Too many steps. A girl should not have to climb five hundred whole steps just to get to Heaven. God makes it impossible to get There that way,” complained Lady Tracy.
“But it was only a make-believe ladder to Heaven,” said Lady Jenny.
“I know, Jen.’ But still,” said Lady Tracy.
“Jesus is the true ladder to Heaven,” said Lady Jennifer.
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Tracy Westwind.
“It means that we do not have to work at climbing a ladder to get There. Getting There is by grace through faith,” preached good Lady Jennifer.
“That sounds a lot better,” said Lady Tracy. “It sounds like I don’t have to do anything in order to get to go to Heaven.”
“Jesus saves!” said Lady Jenny.
“I don’t care for your Jesus. You can have him,” said Lady Tracy.
“A person cannot get saved thinking what you just said, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny.
“How come?” asked Lady Tracy Westwind.
“In John 14:6, the Lord Jesus said to doubting Thomas, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
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man cometh unto the Father, but by me,’” said Lady Jennifer Jubilee.
“I’ve got my own way to Heaven,” said Tracy.
“What is it?” asked Lady Jenny.
“i don’t know,” said Lady Tracy. “But it is better than your way.”
“It is not my way. It is God’s way,” said Jenny J. Jubilee.
“Can I tell you the truth, Jen?” asked Lady Tracy.
“Yes,” said Lady Jenny.
“For people like myself, this Jesus that people like you always go around and tell us about, there is something about this Jesus that bores us and bothers us both at once,” said Lady Tracy.
“You’re offended by Christ,” said Lady Jenny.
“Uh huh, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
“Can I tell you the truth?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“Go ahead,” said Lady Tracy.
“You are letting your offense at God keep you out of Heaven, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny.
“Is that how you see it?” asked Lady Tracy.
“In I Peter 2:8 my Jesus is called, ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,’” said Lady Jennifer. “All unbelievers stumble upon the stone of Jesus. And all unbelievers are offended by the Rock, Jesus Christ.”
“There is something in me, that when I think of Christ and Christianity, that I say, ‘Yick,’” confessed Lady Tracy Westwind.
“You are an unbeliever,” said Lady Jenny.
“And proud of it,” said Lady Tracy.
“Your distaste for Jesus is more than just an offended feeling,” said Lady Jenny.
“Oh yes, Jen.’ For sure,” said Lady Tracy. “It runs deep inside of me.”
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“Your soul is convicted,” said Lady Jenny.
“No. It’s not,” said Tracy Westwind.
“Remember those two pairs of homonym phrases that we were talking about the other day?” asked Lady Jenny.
“I do,” said Lady Tracy. “One that I came up with that was my own idea, and one that you made up that was dumb.”
“Yours that you made up you did derive from watching a TV game show,” said Lady Jennifer.
“‘More specific’ and ‘Morse Pacific.’”
“Yeah. Mine was the good one. Lots of time the game show host has to say to his contestants when they answer a quiz question ‘More specific,’’” said Lady Tracy. “And as for Morse Pacific, well, Samuel Morse did have a cable crossing the Pacific for his famous invention the telegraph. I confess that my homonym pair is kind of nonsensical. But it’s great.”
“Morse’s telegraph cable crossed the Atlantic, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny.
“Oh,” said Tracy Westwind. “But I still do not like your homonym pair.”
“’Lettuce spray’ and ‘Let us pray.’” said Jennifer Jubilee her own made up homonym phrase.
“’Let us pray.’ Ick, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy with a wry face.
“Your heart is convicted of your need for Jesus,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Prove it!” snapped Lady Tracy.
“It is written in Romans 1:19, ‘Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them,’” recited Lady Jenny Jubilee.
“I know what you’re telling me with that Bible verse,” said Tracy Westwind. “You’re claiming that I know that God lives, even though I do not believe in Him the way you do, Jen.’”
“When God our Maker made us people, our Creator put inside our souls and spirits a knowledge of Him,” said Lady Jenny. “It is inscribed in our conscience. It is written in our hearts. It is engraved
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in our minds.”
“I protest,” said stubborn Tracy Westwind.
“Tracy, I say unto you what God said to Saul of Tarsus, ‘It is hard for thee t kick against the pricks.’” said Jennifer Jubilee.
“I am no atheist, as one can define an atheist,” said Tracy Westwind. “I am just an agnostic.”
“A proud agnostic?” asked Lady Jenny,
“Yes. I am a proud agnostic,” bragged Lady Tracy.
“Even Lucifer was never an agnostic,” said Lady Jennifer.
“He and I are best friends,” said Lady Tracy in great contempt of all that was good.
“Shame on you in the name of the Lord,” rebuked righteous Jenny.
“I’m sorry, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy, seeking accord. She was not sorry, though. But she did not wish to hurt Jenny. “Let’s not fight,” said the unrighteous Tracy.
In the secrets of her thoughts, just Jennifer Jubilee again prayed for the lost soul of her best friend in life. Lady Tracy needed to become born again in order to get to go to Heaven and in order not to have to go to Hell. And the girl did not know all of this.
Then the kind donkey gave forth a bray. Lady Tracy said, “Let’s ride back home now, Jenny.”
And Jenny said, “Let’s go back home.”
And the girls mounted Journeyman and came back home.
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CHAPTER V
“What is prayer?” preached Sir Flanders Nickels to his family of griffins here on the shores of Lake Superior. “Prayer is asking. It is asking the prayer-answering God. And God always answers the prayers of the faithful believers—either by saying, ‘Yes,’ or by saying, ‘No,’ or by saying, ‘Wait.’
“Amen, Master!” praised the twelve griffins the Lord.
The wise Griffin Keeper continued his sermon on the shores of the big cold northern lake: “Psalm 3:4 says this about prayer: ‘I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.’ The word ‘Selah,’ means ‘stop and think about this.’ In a parallel verse to this verse—Psalm 34:4—God’s Word says this: ‘I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.’ The good God promises to hear all of the prayers of the saints—unless there is unconfessed sin in that saint’s life. God says so in Psalm 66:18, which reads thus: ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:’ That’s why all believers need to keep short tabs with God in our walk with Christ. We must ask God to search our hearts to show us the sin or sins in our life. Then we must confess them and repent of them. Then God will restore His listening ear to our prayers once again.
A backslidden believer, like a lost person, can pray to God till he is blue in the face, and God will not
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hear him. The only prayer of a backslidden Christian that God hears is the penitential prayer for forgiveness. And the only prayer that a lost person can pray that God hears is the prayer for so great salvation itself. And, by the way, nobody is supposed to confess his sins to a priest; we Christians are commanded to confess our sins only to our Heavenly Father. Do I hear an ‘Amen?’”
“Amen!” thundered the twelve mighty griffins.
“Even the Lord Jesus prayed,” continued the Griffin Keeper today’s sermon. “John chapter seventeen is all one big prayer by Jesus, interceding for His twelve Apostles. Good Baptist pastors call that chapter in the Bible ‘the Lord’s prayer.’ In Mark 1:35 it says how Jesus got up way before daylight to go to a place alone to pray. In Luke 6:12 it says how this same Jesus went to a mountain and prayed the whole night long; there He was seeking His Father’s will as to who the Apostles were to be. Verily I say unto you, ‘If the Lord Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray?’
“Amen, my master,” called forth a griffin.
“One day one of the disciples asked Jesus, ‘Teach us to pray.’” preached the Griffin Keeper. “And Jesus answered his query with the words of Luke 11:2-4, saying to him, ‘…, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.’ But take heed: This is a model prayer, not a prayer that is to be repeated verbatim word for word. A parallel such Bible passage about this model prayer is also found in Matthew 6:9-13, which reads like this: ‘After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.’ The Catholic church chants this prayer in vain repetitions in every mass. They make this prayer a heathen chant. This
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prayer in Matthew, again, is a model prayer. What God wants in our prayer life are words of spontaneity and of specificity and of originality and of sincerity and of humbleness. When we pray to God, we can talk to Him as a man talks to his best friend. For myself, my best prayers are always long chats with the Lord. Just pour out your hearts to Him as you pray every day.”
“Amen to that!” called forth another griffin.
The Griffin Keeper continued his sermon in the sand: “The Good Book has lots of true tales of prayer-warriors whose prayers were answered by Almighty God. Take, for example, the prophet Elijah.
For the glory of the true God, Elijah prayed to Him that it not rain for three-and-a-half years. Why did he pray for this drought? It was because much of Israel were worshiping the false god Baal, who was seen by God’s chosen nation as ‘the god of rain and good crops.’ And the true God was jealous over the false god. And of course, the true God answered Elijah’s prayer for no more rain. And Baal was discredited and proven wrong. Then, to put the nail in the coffin, after these three years and six months of no rain, Elijah then went and prayed to God that He now bring the rain. And a great rain came down
from Elijah’s God upon the land like unto floodgates opening up.”
“Amen!” said two griffins at once.
And the griffin master said, “And take, for another example, the godly woman Hannah. She was a woman without a child, and she wanted a child. She turned to the Lord in prayer and prayed that God give her a child, a little boy. And she promised God, ‘If You do, I will give him unto You all the days of his life.’ God answered her prayer and gave her a baby boy. And she lent him to the Lord for as long as he lived. His name was Samuel, the last judge of Israel and a great man of God.”
“Amen!” said half a dozen griffins.
Sir Flanders went on to preach, “And consider Daniel, the man greatly beloved of God. Back in his days of the Medo-Persian Empire, emperor Darius ruled the world. And Darius proudly signed into law a decree that basically said, ‘Anyone who prays unto anybody other than myself for the next thirty
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days, I shall throw into the den of hungry lions.’ This Daniel was already a mighty prayer-warrior, and his prayers were thrice a day everyday and only to God. Daniel learned of this new decree, and yet he still continued praying only to God thrice every day—even in his bedroom window where all could see.
He was caught, and taken to the lions’ den, and thrown down into it. But God sent His angel down into the den with Daniel and the lions left this prayer-warrior alone. God had gone to bat for this man who so faithfully prayed to Him.
“Amen,” said a couple of griffins to this.
“And think upon the Apostle Peter’s great sermon of the day of Pentecost,” continued the Griffin Keeper. “Peter led quite three thousand people to salvation all at once from his sermon. And how did that happen? It happened because before he began to preach that day, one hundred twenty disciples had gathered together in a great and effectual prayer meeting to pray for Peter. Later, at another time in Peter’s ministry, he was cast into prison for the cause of Christ. And when he was in the prison the church prayed for him unceasingly. And the angel of the Lord came into Peter’s cell in the night, and He did wake up Peter and did break his chains and did bid him to put on his sandals and did walk him out of this jail and did lead him to the iron gate of the city and did open this gate before him. God answered the prayers of this church, and Peter was freed.”
“Amen!” said one of the watchmen of the griffins.
“And last of all in today’s message, I will make mention of Good King Hezekiah,” preached the
griffins’ master. “King Hezekiah of the Southern Kingdom Judah was stricken sick by the Good Lord. God told him that this disease was unto death. And Hezekiah prayed and said to God with tears that he live. God heard his prayer, and God saw his tears. And God had compassion on His good king. And the Lord answered this king’s prayer by saying to him, ‘I will add unto thy days fifteen years.’ And this king lived another fifteen years. And Hezekiah praised the merciful God with this ode: ‘The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day:…’”
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“Amen to the God of life,” said another watchman of the griffins.
Sir Flanders continued, “I say unto you twelve today, ‘The prayer-answering God of Elijah and Hannah and Daniel and the one hundred twenty and that church and Hezekiah is the same God Who answers our prayers today here in these days of tribulation.’ He has not lost any of His power. And He changes not. And He does not love them any more than He does us. Jesus is no respecter of persons.”
“Amen to the God of prayer,” said a third watchmen of the three watchmen of the griffins.
“I do praise the Lord that this day I can still give out the Word of God here freely in the Fifty-First State to a flock of twelve mighty griffins in the Lord,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Amen!” called out Field Martial. “God is in this state!”
Just then the three watchmen turned to look upon one another. Then they looked out upon the vast waters to the north of the greatest of the Great Lakes. And they turned to their inquisitive master.
The Griffin Keeper said, “Report.”
And Chief of Staff said, “The waters of Lake Superior are still and benign here upon our shore, Master. But there is a disturbance upon these waters of lake a few miles away. And it is an unnatural phenomenon that I do perceive.”
And Captain of the Guard said, “Master, I sense evil out there beyond this northern shore of our Fifty-First State, and it is coming our way shortly.”
And Sergeant of Arms said, “Master, evil may be trespassing upon our Godly refuge here.”
Field Martial said, “Master, let me go out to this wicked presence, whoever it may be, and I will take off its head.”
The Griffin Keeper said, “Wisdom is of the Lord. Do not now go out there alone, Field Martial.”
“What would you have us three to do, Master?” asked the three watchmen of the griffins.
“I want you three to go out there and do reconnaissance. You three sense wickedness out there.
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Go out there stealthily and look for it. Spy out the waters and the sky above the waters and come back with words of what you have found out. But do not attack as only the three of you alone,” said the Griffin Keeper.
And the three flew off in obedience to the master’s commands.
Field Martial said, “Master, this day you trust not in my prowess alone to handle the peril, but also not in the prowess of the next three ranking griffins together to handle this peril,”
“Good and valiant and dread griffin,” said the Griffin Keeper to Field Martial, “I have a gut feeling that this time will be unlike any previous time so far in this world ruled by Antichrist and False Prophet upon us.”
“Do you fear this mysterious visitor?” asked his best friend.
“I fear God,” said Sir Flanders. “Yet I feel lack of ease at this mysterious visitor,”
“What shall we do, Master?” called forth one of the lesser griffins. All the eight lesser griffins were lined up with Field Martial and their master at the edges of the waves of this southern shore of the Great Lake, and all eyes were upon a place out there beyond even griffin vision somewhere now not far away.
“I shall pray,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Let us gather together in a prayer meeting circle, and I shall pray for God’s wisdom and strength. God willing, I shall see my three sentinels coming back just as I lift up my head from my prayers. To God be the victory.” And the nine griffins had a prayer meeting with their master doing the praying. The Christian soldier finished up praying to the Lord about this possible exigency coming from the lake, with the words, “Your will be done, In Jesus’s name. Amen.” He lifted up his head from prayer. Behold the three sentries were seen coming back in the sky toward the land.
Field Martial said, “Alas, they bring bad news.”
“How can you tell, Field Martial?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
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“Their tails are straight out in back,” said Field Martial.
“God is with us, nonetheless,” said Sir Flanders. And the three griffins lighted upon the sandy shore. “Guardians, give your report,” said the Griffin Keeper.
Captain of the Guard spoke and said, “The rider on the white unicorn and his unicorn are coming here right now. They are in the skies and coming right behind us.”
Chief of Staff spoke and said, “The antichrist himself is coming to speak with you, Master.”
And Sergeant of Arms spoke and said, “And they two are alone.”
“Well done, good griffins,” said the Griffin Keeper. Then the Griffin Keeper commanded to his twelve griffins, “Battle formation!” And in obedience six griffins fell into a single file line to their master’s left, and six griffins fell into a single file line to their master’s right.
Behold, the ruler of the world riding the world’s greatest winged unicorn coming now into the shore from above. No griffin spoke a word. All eyes were focused upon this interloper. And not a sound was made as the white unicorn landed upon the sand and the rider of the white unicorn dismounted.
He was a tall man, at least six-and-one-half feet tall. And his hair was much and bright white and long. His face was hirsute with so much white mustache and so much white beard that it was hard to find his eyes. And he had on a white tuxedo jacket with tails and white dress pants and a white shirt and a white bow tie and white socks and white dress shoes all shined. His face looked like Santa Claus in his image of goodness and yet was evil with the truth of Santa Claus the false idol. This man was the beast of Revelation chapter thirteen. This man was the son of perdition of II Thessalonians chapter two. This man was the pseudochrist, as Flanders referred to him before his griffins. This man was the ruler of this world of this tribulation. And this rider’s white unicorn glistened with a white that matched that of his rider. This white unicorn’s wingspan was broader even than that of Field Martial’s. And as for the white unicorn’s unicorn horn, it must have been a good four feet long, and two-and-one-
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half inches in diameter at its base and as sharp and pointed as a nail at its end.. And his horn was as white as was his coat. His white main and his white tail blew about in the wind. And he clopped his white hooves of ivory upon the beach in great pride.
Dauntless in his God, the Griffin Keeper spoke first, saying to antichrist, “Rider on the white unicorn, why have you trespassed upon my Fifty-First State this first time?”
The rider answered and said, “Griffin Keeper, I am come to make you to ponder, to consider new things, to teach you knowledge and understanding.”
“You are come here to try to cause me doubt of God and of His Word, you do mean,” translated Flanders the equivocal statement of the rider.
“Your humble guest comes in peace,” said the rider, holding up his empty bow and displaying a quiver without arrows.
“You have words for arrows,” said Sir Flanders, referring to the rider’s lies as his artillery.
“Have not I brought peace upon this world of which I rule?” asked the rider.
“A false peace that ends the moment that you sit upon the throne in the temple of God and declare yourself to be God, O rider on the white unicorn,” spoke the Griffin Keeper Bible knowledge of things to come soon.
Not done with his tricky words, the rider then said, “I have come to ask of you a service, Sir Flanders.”
“You have come in the name of the Devil,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Is that your famous LongSpear in your hands, O Griffin master?” asked the rider with guile.
“It is,” said the Griffin Keeper. “With this I rule the Fifty-First State.”
“And what is this on my head that you see, Sir Flanders?” asked the rider of the white unicorn.
“It is a magnificent crown,” said Flanders Nickels.
“It is,” said the rider. “And this crown is proof that I rule the world.”
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“You mean the rest of the world, O rider,” said the Griffin Keeper in the truth.
Sir Flanders found himself to keep looking back at that crown. Field Martial gave him warning, saying, “Do not stare at this potentate’s crown, O Master. They say that he can make people think things that ate not true if they gaze upon his crown for a while.”
“That’s not so,” snapped Flanders at his best friend for no good reason. Behold, this crown had been telling him, “Field Martial is not to be believed anymore.” Embarrassed and convicted, the Griffin Keeper quickly turned away from the crown and said, “I’m sorry, Field Martial. You are right, and I am wrong.” And the Griffin Keeper declared, “None of you griffins must let yourselves take even one glance upon the crown on the rider’s head.”
In a demonstration of his apparent sincerity, the rider of the white unicorn took his crown off of his hoary head and put it away in his unicorn’s saddle bags. And he said again, “I have a transaction that I would like to make with you, Sir Flanders Nickels.”
“Is it something that you would like to sell to me, or is it something that you would like to buy from me?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
“It is something that I want to buy from you, noble man of God,” said the rider.
“Don’t think to buy my master’s soul, O man of the Devil,” broke in Field Martial.
“I wish to buy something that you do not need, O master of the griffins,” said the rider. “I cannot buy your soul away from you, because it already belongs to God by reason of being born again as you are.”
“Tell me right now what I have that you do not have that you think to buy for money, O rider of the white unicorn,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“I have the world’s treasury at my and the False Prophet’s disposal back in Europe,” said the rider.
“My master refuses to take the mark!” snapped Field Martial.
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“The number ‘666!’” cried out the other eleven griffins. All in the tribulation who received this mark, though they could continue to buy and to sell, their eternal souls were doomed irrevocably to end up down in Hell forever in the life to come.
“My good False Prophet does not sell the number 666. He gives it away free,” said the rider.
“Then it is not the number about which you have come.” said the Griffin Keeper.
“I want to buy a little real estate in your land, good Flanders,” said the rider of the white unicorn.
“A little lot in my land for your own yard, Antichrist?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
“A sizable enough yard to satisfy my urges of conquering,” said the rider with wiles.
“You want my whole Fifty-First State!” exclaimed Sir Flanders.
“Master, it is bad enough that he comes here with all of these troubles he brings; now he wants to completely take over all the land we have, too,” said Field Martial.
“Let us three take him and his unicorn partner out of here, O Master,” said the group of sentries.
“You must be kidding me, white rider!” exclaimed the Griffin Keeper.
“I have banks throughout all Europe and the world from which I can take out the money to buy your land out from you, Flanders Nickels,” said the rider.
“This Fifty-First State is not for sale,” said Sir Flanders. “It belongs to God. My job for God it to keep it and to take good care of it. I am His steward of this broad and vast land. The Fifty-First State is not something that you can buy.”
Field Martial said, “Master, this antichrist has never stepped foot into this land before. His most wicked presence here is taking virtue out of this good and holy land. We need him to get out soon, lest he poison our land with sin and evil.”
“I, too, feel his Satanic oppression,” said Sir Flanders.
Then the rider of the white unicorn said, “I am fatigued and weary with God’s Holy Spirit here
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so thick everywhere in this Fifty-First State.” The antichrist was now breathing heavily, himself just standing. “All of this righteousness of God takes strength out of me and out of my unicorn. The first thing that I would need to do if I bought this land would be to drive out this Holy Ghost. I can’t see how you guys can stand it so full of Jesus here. I’ve got to leave before my unicorn’s wings get too heavy to fly me away out of here.”
“Shall we get him while he is weak and weary and strike him down now, Master?” asked one of the griffins.
“We shall let him go for now,” said Sir Flanders.
The rider then rallied and mounted his white unicorn. He said, “Let us flee!” And the white unicorn rallied, and lifted up off the ground and flew away.
“They got away, Master,” said another griffin.
“It was not our time to slay the rider of the white unicorn and his white unicorn,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Their time to perish in battle is yet to come at our hands and in God’s time.”
Another griffin said, “When the time comes, we griffins will be ready.”
In explanation of why he let the two evil ones escape, the Griffin Keeper told them, “Our divine and wise God has need of the Antichrist to do his evil upon this Earth for a little while longer. When the fulness of the white rider’s times come to pass, then he and his unicorn will be taken out of this Earth. God’s plans for this tribulation are right and good. And we three are the Lord’s servants. Remember the words of Daniel 2:21—they are true also about the Antichrist and the False Prophet–’:…he [God] removeth kings, and setteth up kings:…’”
“The Word of God cannot be broken,” said Field Martial in agreement with his master.
“Even so shall it be,” said the three sentinels.
“As you wish, so do we wish, Master,” said the other griffins.
Just then the three sentries turned to look out unto the horizon toward due south. “Report,
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my good griffins,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“I see a seagull coming from God,” said Chief of Staff.
“Good news is on its way,” said Sir Flanders. “Seagulls always and only bring good news to us born-again Christians.”
“He has a message held in his beak,” said Captain of the Guard.
“It is an index card,” said Sir Flanders. “God likes to use index cards when He sends His seagulls.”
“Something from the south must require your attention,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“The Lord always sends his seagulls from the direction for which the informed party is notified,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Here he comes right now, Master,” said Field Martial.
Sir Flanders raised his right wrist, and the seagull lighted and perched upon it in the air.
“Tell us what it says, my master,” said another griffin.
“Open his beak and pull it out,” said another griffin.
“I can’t wait to hear it,” said another griffin.
And the Griffin Keeper took it and read it out loud for his first time to all his family: “Thus is it written, ‘Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.’ Song of Solomon 6:5. Solomon found his ‘fair lady Guinevere’ thus in the Shulamite woman. You shall find your ‘Fair Lady Guinevere” truly in a woman of De Pere. Go now and leave the Fifty-First State. Travel south down into Wisconsin. And come to De Pere, just south of Green Bay. And you will find her, and she will find you. She will be subject to you as her boyfriend.
And you will love her as your girlfriend. Sir Flanders Arckery Nickels, live happily ever after. Amen and amen.”
“Master, what do you say now to this?” asked Field Martial.
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“I say now to this, O Field Martial and the rest of you, ‘My Song of Guinevere has turned from a sad song to a happy song.’” said Sir Flanders. He and the seagull looked one another in the eyes. “Thank you, good messenger from God,” said the Griffin Keeper, and the seagull flew back toward the south.
And Sir Flanders began to sing a great hymn of great thanksgiving:
“1. Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
- O may this bounteous God
Thru all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.
- All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son and Him who reigns
With Them in highest heaven–
The one eternal God
Whom earth and heav’n adore–
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.”
“Go after the girl, Master,” said Field Martial.
“I shall do just that,” said Sir Flanders. “Let us all begin a journey to De Pere.”
“With what shall we get ready, Master?” asked one of the griffins.
“Only this,” said the Griffin Keeper, holding up his LongSpear. “Now that we are leaving the safe haven of my state, we will need this.”
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“When are we leaving, Master?” asked another griffin.
“Right away,” said Sir Flanders.
“This day?” asked another griffin.
“Right now,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Do climb up upon my back, Master,” called forth Field Martial. And the Griffin Keeper mounted his griffin of griffins.
“Lead the way, loyal and faithful Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Ascend up into the skies, and the rest of you do likewise and follow your leader and his master.”
And a great army flew up into the sky to find its general his new girlfriend-in-the-Lord. And the
Lord was with him and with them and with her.
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CHAPTER VI
Lady Jennifer and Lady Tracy stood before the two signs. Lady Tracy read out loud the big sign: “Oconto County Theme Park.”
And Lady Jenny read out loud the little sign: “It is written, ‘I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.’ Luke 17:34-36.”
“What’s this?” asked Lady Tracy. “These sound like rapture verses.”
“The translation of the saints indeed,” said Jenny Jubilee.
“Which has already happened,” said Tracy.
“In real life, yes,” said Lady Jenny. “But here at this theme park it will ‘happen again’ in virtual presentation for our enjoyment.”
“More for your enjoyment than for my enjoyment,” said Miss Westwind.
“I wish that I had already been saved when the rapture took place on the Earth,” said Lady Jenny.
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“And you’re stuck down here on Earth with the rest of us because of that, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy. Then she said, “I hope that this show is better than it sounds.”
“Oh, it will be great,” said Lady Jenny.
“The last time that we were here it had a different Bible verse,” said Lady Tracy.
“God changes his Scripture verses on a regular basis all throughout all of his theme parks,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Why, God is liable to run out of Bible verses,” said Tracy in mirth.
“The King James Bible has a thousand pages of Bible verses, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny with a smile. “That’s 31,173 verses to work with, girl.” The two young women laughed in gaiety.
“And just think, every county in Wisconsin has its own theme park,” said Lady Tracy.
“Our Wisconsin is the most well-endowed state of the union when it comes to the Lord’s theme parks,” said Lady Jenny.
“Even a girl like myself can thank your God for that,” said Lady Tracy.
Just then the donkey brayed. “Journeyman says that it is time,” said Lady Jenny.
“It’s more like he is tired of waiting already, and we did not even get to go in and get started yet,” said Lady Tracy.
“We better not keep him waiting,” said Jennifer.
And the two young women passed through the gates on into the Oconto County Theme Park to see the dream that God would make for them of today’s Scripture.
Instantly Lady Jenny was in a new place. She was sitting at a strange desk in the corner of a dim room. It was a bedroom, and she saw a large bed with two men sitting up in bed and reading, each with a dim lamp upon a nightstand on their side of the bed. One of them was a skinny tall young guy wearing pajamas with horizontal stripes. And the other was a short fat young guy wearing pajamas with vertical stripes. In this vision, Lady Jenny could see them, but they could not see her; and she
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understood this in the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit also told her that these two men were brothers.
The skinny brother said, “Little Brother, the Lord is coming soon.”
And the fat brother said, “Big Brother, our Grandma used to say that, and He still hasn’t come.”
“This King James Bible does not lie about a think like that,” said the skinny brother, holding up the Good Book in his hands before his brother.
“My fun book from the library—this book of nonsense—makes more sense than your Book,” said the fat brother, holding up his book of jokes in his two hands.
The skinny brother asked, “You heard of Noah. Didn’t you?”
“Everybody knows about Noah,” said the fat brother.
“Well everybody else besides Noah said the same thing when Noah preached about God’s coming judgment of the great flood to come. They all laughed at Noah, and they said, ‘We do not see any of this rain that you said that God would flood us all with. What is rain? Noah, you and your family are crazy. And what are you doing building such an ark as you are?’ But God’s fulness of time came to pass. And in His time he brought the cataclysm of global flood of rain upon wicked Earth, And everyone drowned except for Noah and his family and his animals on the ark,” preached the skinny brother.
Heedless to this good preaching, the fat brother said, “Look at what this joke says in my book of nonsense. It is the funniest one yet in this book. It could be all about the two of us.” And the fat brother read it out loud to the skinny brother: “Fatty and skinny went to bed. Fatty rolled over, and skinny was dead.”
Strong in the Lord, the skinny brother persisted, saying, “Little Brother, you are not ready for the rapture. You are not ready to face the Lord. You are still lost in your sins.”
Brazen and impudent to God’s truths, the little brother went on to say, “And look at the little poem over here on the other page.” And he read this one out loud to his brother as well: “Who killed
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poor Cock Robin? ‘I,’ said the sparrow, ‘with my little bow and arrow.’”
“Little Brother, I am serious here,” said the skinny brother.
“Big Brother, you born-again believers always talk about this rapture as if is is some good thing.
But not all of us are born-again believers. People like us get nervous when you talk about things like that. What is good for you Christians is bad for us non-Christians,” said the fat brother. “I do not want to hear anymore tonight about the Lord’s Coming. It scares me.”
“All you need to do is to humble yourself before God and get saved, and you will feel the same way about the Lord’s Second Coming and about the rapture before like I do,” said the skinny brother.
“I’ve had enough of this for the night,” said the fat brother. “Let’s turn in for the night now and call it a day.”
“I’ll be praying for you, Little Brother,” said the skinny brother.
“Don’t bother,” snapped the fat brother. “I’ll be all right.”
And they turned off the lights and went to sleep. And as Lady Jenny watched from the chair before the desk, suddenly the skinny brother was no longer there in bed, and the fat brother was now alone in bed. The rapture happened, and the saved brother was taken, taken up in the rapture to the glories of Heaven; and the lost brother was left, left behind to live for a short while longer in Earth’s tribulation and then go to Hell for forever after.
Then suddenly Lady Jennifer found herself in a new place. She saw two women outside somewhere working at a mill. Again she could see them, but they could not see her. The Holy Spirit put in Jenny’s understanding that this was a time from the Old Testament days. This mill was a piece of equipment in which grain was ground up. Lady Jenny saw two big millstones at the top of this ancient mill, both stones each about two feet in diameter and half-a-foot in thickness. One young woman was pouring grain down into the hole of the upper millstone. The other young woman was turning a handle to spin this same upper millstone. The lower millstone was stationary. And as the
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grain came through the hole and down between the two millstones, this grain was being ground up.
And this ground grain spilled and fell down to the ground all about this mill upon a wooden board underneath the mill. And the Holy Spirit told Lady Jenny, “These two young women are cousins.”
The lady cousin pouring in the grain, sang a line of hymn in joy of the Lord, “O blessed hope, O blissful promise.”
But the lady cousin working the handle said, “Are you singing about that rapture again, woman?”
“That I am,” said the cousin pouring in the grain. “The rapture of the believers is both a blessed hope and a blissful promise. The hope and the promise are true about the rapture both at once. O cousin.”
“You believers think funny, cousin,” said the woman working the handle. “I think that you should tend to our work and not go dreaming about impossible things you find in the Bible.”
“God’s Word is truth, cousin,” said the lady pouring in the grain. “And Jesus is truth.”
“Cousin, look what you’re doing,” said the woman working the handle. “You’re spilling our grain on my head.”
“I’m sorry,” said the cousin pouring in the grain.
The cousin working the handle said, “And every day you spill this rapture stuff into my ears when we work together.”
“A woman needs to be ready for the rapture. God’s Word says that it is imminent. Myself, saved, I look forward to it with all of my heart. I can go to Heaven without having to die first. But for yourself, cousin, you who are not saved, it is judgment day. You will be left behind to live through Earth’s darkest hour—a period of seven years of global cataclysm. And then, after that, you go to a worse place—Hell itself,” said the cousin pouring in the grain.
“Cousin, just keep pouring in the grain,” said the woman working the handle and irritated.
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“Your rapture is not going to feed our bellies.”
“The prophet Jeremiah calls this darkest hour ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble.’ and Israel will be tested like never before or after,” said the cousin pouring in the grain.
“What does that have to do with right now?” asked the cousin turning the handle.
“Cousin, wouldn’t you want to go to Heaven with me?” asked the cousin pouring in the grain.
“Heaven is only for dead people,” said the cousin working the handle. “And I am not planning on dying anytime soon.”
Just then a voice called down from Heaven upon the Earth, declaring, “Come up hither.” And, lo, the saved cousin was taken up to Heaven, and the lost cousin was left to endure the seven years of judgments and then to go to Hell after that.
Right after this, Lady Jenny found herself in a third new world of today’s dream from God. Here she saw a beautiful meadow of tall field grass blowing in the west wind. Two men were here whom she could see, but who could not see her. One was an older man with a hoary white head and with a hirsute face all of white. And the other one was a younger man with much jet black hair and equally hirsute on his face, but all of jet black. The Holy Spirit told Lady Jennifer that these two men in the field were father and son. And the father said, “Look and behold, Son, this beautiful field grass made by our Creator. God is wise, and God is powerful.”
“Dad, it is only a bunch of grass,” said the son.
“God made field grass on the third day of creation,” said the dad.
“No, Dad,” said the son, “This field grass, and all field grass, has evolved from a lower form across millions of years of evolution.”
“Son, you need to have faith in your Maker,” said the dad.
“You creationists are ignorant people, Dad,” said the son. “I have a Ph. D. in evolutionary science. And you never finished high school.”
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“Son, the Bible says that the Apostles of Jesus were ignorant and unlearned men, too, but others could tell that they knew things, because they had been with Jesus, and they took heed to them,” said the dad.
“Dad, get real. There is no God. And I know, because I graduated from grad school,” said the son. “I’m educated.”
“Son, the psalmist David wrote in the Bible, ‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.’ And as for your education, , my son, the writer of the book of Proverbs, Solomon, says, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,’” said the dad.
“Do you still think that you are going to Heaven and that you will meet David and Solomon in Heaven?” scorned the son.
“As Paul says, ‘Let God be true, but every man a liar,’” said the dad. “The rapture will happen, and they will get raptured with the dead in Christ, then I will get raptured with the living in Christ. And so shall I ever be with Christ.”
“This rapture, Dad, is a figment,” exclaimed the son. “It can never happen. Forget about it for your own good. You will be in for a disappointment unto the day of your death.”
“In his letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul the Apostle summarized the rapture as follows:
First comes the Lord Jesus down from Heaven upon the clouds of Earth. Second comes a shout. Third comes the voice of an archangel. Fourth comes a trumpet blast. Fifth comes the translation of the dead Christians. Sixth comes the translation of the living Christians. And so shall I ever be with the Lord,” said the dad. “And, further, in his letter to the church in Corinth, this same Apostle Paul summarized this same rapture thus: “It is an instantaneous event. It takes only a twinkling of an eye for it to happen. Some pastors say that a twinkling of an eye is the same thing as a blink of an eye. Some pastors say that this twinkling of an eye is the time that it takes light to pass from the outer part of the eye unto the inner part of the eye.”
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“I hate to tell you this, Dad,” said the son. “But God is dead.”
“Nay, my son. Christ lives.”
“Prove it,” said the son.
“You will see His power and His wisdom when He comes down to the clouds in the rapture,” said the Dad. “This Almighty God will show His power and His wisdom when He separates all of the saved people from all of the lost people from throughout all of this world, and then goes on to take the saved people all the way up to Heaven beyond the farthest star all at once, and then goes and leaves the unsaved people behind for His twenty-one catastrophic judgments upon the Christ-rejecting world.”
“Prove it, God,” taunted the Lord this unsaved son, looking in mock upward toward Heaven.
Behold, the rapture took place just then. The father was taken Home to the glories of Heaven. The son was left behind to endure the world down here next to be ruled by the Devil and his antichrist and his false prophet, and then to go down to the fires of Hell after that, never to get out.
Just then Lady Jenny saw herself walking back through the gate with her friend Tracy Westwind and coming back out where Journeyman was awaiting her.
The first thing that Lady Tracy said was, “I am glad to be back home again after all of that going on, Jen!’”
“It was great for me,” said Lady Jenny.
“”What was great about today’s vision?” asked Lady Tracy.
“It makes me think about Heaven,” said Lady Jenny.
“It makes me think about what has become of this world now that we are in this tribulation,” said Lady Tracy. “I had a bad dream this time at this theme park.”
“You know what I have always been telling you, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny, “’And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
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darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.’ Romans 13:11-12.”
“I know. I know. I need to get right with God before His Second Coming or before I die in these End Times,” said Lady Tracy. “At least for you as a Christian, this time it was a good dream for you today once again as always.”
“It made me appreciate my salvation all the more,” said Lady Jenny. Then she recited a poem about Heaven well-loved by other believers like herself:
“This world is not my home.
I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me]
From Heaven’s open door.
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore.”
Then the donkey brayed out a ‘heehaw.’
“Are we ready to go back home, Jenny?” asked Tracy.
“I know that Journeyman is,” said Lady Jenny.
“He’s the boss,” said Lady Tracy with a laugh.
“He only thinks that he is the boss,” said Miss Jubilee with a laugh as well.
And the two young women mounted the good donkey and began to ride back home to De Pere.
After a while of silence and thoughts among the three, Lady Jenny said, “Thank you, Trace,’ for how you had saved my life that one day.”
‘I did good that day,” said Lady Tracy in gladness.
In thoughts of silent prayer of thanksgiving, Lady Jenny remembered everything about that day. Indeed Tracy Westwind had risked her own life to rescue Lady Jennifer. And God had rewarded Lady Tracy from her brave good deed with His own protecting hand over her. On that very frightening day, the authorities had arrested Lady Jenny because she had refused the take the mark of the beast upon her
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right hand or upon her forehead. The antichrist had decreed, “All who refuse my number ‘666’ shall be beheaded by guillotine.’ And the false prophet made the guillotines and went around to capture and to behead people like Lady Jennifer who refused this number. And Lady Jenny saw her own woman’s head to be placed under the fell dread blade. Lo, along came Lady Tracy, and with her was the entire high school varsity football team. She and these strong young athletes came storming in upon what was about to be Lady Jennifer’s execution. And they wrought pillage and destruction and rampage to this capital punishment site. The henchmen of the two world rulers were beaten down. The authorities of the two world rulers here were scattered and did flee. And all of the guillotines here of the two world rulers were knocked down. Lady Tracy herself loosed the chains about Lady Jenny with a little tool from tool technology class that she had brought with her. And Lady Jenny was rescued. And this rescue party fled away. And the authorities of this evil world never found Jenny again. Nor did they find Lady Tracy for any first time. Nor did they ever find any of the football players. Indeed the Good Lord did keep Lady Jennifer’s deliverers safe from the beast and his false prophet who did rule the world together. And this football team went on to decide together that not one of them would take the number for themselves, either. They wanted to be like Lady Jenny. So, too, agreed Lady Tracy. And God granted them all mercy and grace and safety from the guillotines for the rest of this tribulation.
“It was all your idea, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny. “I love you!”
“And I love you, too, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
After a while, the two girls were back home. They dismounted tireless Journeyman. And they saw a seagull there before the door, waiting for them, an index card in his beak.
“Ooo, Jenny, a note from God!” said Lady Tracy.
“What could it be about?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“Who’s it for?” asked Lady Tracy. The seagull, in reply, turned his eyes upon Lady Jenny. “It’s for you, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
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“What do you think it says?” asked Jennifer Jubilee.
“Take it, and let’s find out,” said Lady Tracy.
Lady Jenny leaned down and took the index card from the seagull’s beak and thanked him, and the seagull flew back away. And Lady Jennifer did read this index card note out loud to herself and to Miss Westwind: “It is written, ‘His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.’ Song of Solomon 2:6. O fair Lady Guinevere, I have seen your tears, and I have felt your loneliness, and I have heard your prayers. Your lonesomeness is soon to leave your life.”
“What does that note from the Lord mean, Jen?’” asked Lady Tracy.
“I do believe that the Lord is going to give me a Christian boyfriend,” said Lady Jenny. “Suddenly my woman’s heart feels hope.”
“Those words of that Bible verse…they do sound like a girlfriend talking to her boyfriend, Jen.’” said Lady Tracy.
“I don’t believe it,” said Lady Jenny. “This index card has got to be too good to be true. Trace,’”
“Is it a bad thing for a daughter of God to doubt her Heavenly Father?” asked Lady Tracy in gentle rebuke.
“Hebrews 6:18: ‘…,in which it was impossible for God to lie,…,’” Lady Jennifer reminded herself. “I no longer doubt, Trace. I now believe it. God wrote to me to tell me that I am about to find my boyfriend-in-Christ. And I shall in deed and in truth finally find him, thanks to God. I am so happy!” And she sang out, “I am about to become one’s special guy’s own Guinevere!”
“Who might it be?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I’ll ask God,” said Lady Jenny. “Who is it, Lord?” prayed Miss Jubilee, looking up to Heaven.
And another seagull messenger from God came up to her and did light upon her front stoop, himself also with an index card in his beak.
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“That sure was fast, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
“The Good Lord loves to answer prayers,” said Lady Jennifer in all good faith. And she reached down, thanked this second seagull and took the index card in her right hand; and this second seagull of the Lord then flew back away to God.
“I’m almost as excited as you are,” said Tracy Westwind.
“It says this,” began Lady Jennifer, reading out loud: “Lady Jenny: Behold, the Griffin Keeper comes for you, and with him his twelve griffins.”
“The famous Griffin Keeper is coming for you, Jen?’” asked Lady Tracy, this time herself not without doubts.
“Sir Flanders Arckery Nickels, my new boyfriend,” said Lacy Jenny, reveling in this prophecy very soon to be fulfilled.
“Why, he is the most famous man in the world!” said Lady Tracy.
“Yeah, and he wants me to be his girlfriend-in-the-Lord,” said Lady Jenny.
“How does a guy like that way up north know about a gal like you down here in De Pere?” asked Lady Tracy.
“He probably doesn’t know anything about me yet, Trace,’” said Jennifer Jubilee. “But I think that he will get to know all about me when God will bring us together.”
‘Do you think that he is cute?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I never really thought about him like that before,” said Lady Jenny. “But the more that I think about that now, the more I feel like I am getting to like him. He is a handsome man, as men go. He’s a hunk, Trace!’”
“I can see that you are getting a real crush on this famous Griffin Keeper, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
“Oh yes. So much so,” said Jenny Jubilee.
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“Hopefully the griffin master feels the same way for you as you do for him,” said Tracy Westwind.
“Oh, he surely shall,” said Lady Jennifer. “Seeing that Jesus Himself is bringing us together, Jesus Himself will keep us together. The mighty Griffin Keeper will be smitten in his man’s heart for little Jenny J. Jubilee the moment that he sees what I look like.”
“You always tell me how plain you are in your own eyes. Now you say that you can conquer the great Sir Flanders’s heart with one look,” said Lady Tracy.
“What I happen to think about my face will not be at all what Sir Flanders will think about my face,” said Lady Jennifer. “Remember, I and the Griffin Keeper have one great similarity in common that can only serve to strengthen our feelings for each other. I am a Christian woman alone in a world with no Christian men anywhere nearby, and he is a Christian man alone in a world with no Christian women anywhere nearby. We are meant for each other. And God is now bringing us together, Trace.’”
“I would bet that he prayed for a Fair Lady Guinevere to come into his life, Jen,’” thought Lady Tracy out loud in most enlightening consideration.
“Just as I was praying for myself to become one man’s Fair Lady Guinevere,” said Jenny in great insight.
“You get to see the famous griffins of the Fifty-First State,” said Lady Tracy.
And Lady Jenny went on to speak their names: “Field Martial…Chief of Staff…Sergeant of Arms…Captain of the Guard…Infantry…Bulwark…Fortress…Galleon…Brigade…Cavalry…Centurion…
Troop.”
“His griffins will be glad to meet you, too, Jen,’” said Tracy Westwind.
“What can I say to God for all of this?” asked Lady Jenny.
“Tell Him, ‘Thank You,’” said Lady Tracy.
And Lady Jenny went on to say, “Thank You,” to God by singing a great hymn of thanksgiving
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up to His throne in Heaven:
“1. Come, ye thankful people, come–
Raise the song of harvest home:
All is safely gathered in
Ere the winter storms begin.
God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come–
Raise the song of harvest home..
- All the world is God’s own field,
Fruit unto His praise to yield:
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear:
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.
- For the Lord our God shall come
And shall take His harvest home:
From His field shall in that day
All offenses purge away–
Give His angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful ears to store
In His garner evermore.
- Even so, Lord, quickly come
To Thy final harvest home:
Gather Thou Thy people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin;
There, forever purified,
In Thy presence to abide:
Come, with all Thine angels, come–
Raise the glorious harvest home.”
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CHAPTER VII
Way above the earth, Sir Flanders Nickels riding upon Field Martial, passed across the Michigan-Wisconsin border in his journey south. “We are now exiting Dickinson County,” he announced to his twelve griffins.
“And we are now entering Florence County,” said Field Martial.
“South is where your lady companion waits for you, Master,” said one of the griffins.
“How far into Wisconsin would God wish us to go before we find her, Master?” asked another griffin.
“God has not told me yet,” said the Griffin Keeper. “My part is to keep riding up here until she and I discover each other.”
“Surely you do not think that you will find her up here a thousand feet up, Master?” asked another griffin.
“I would think that I would more likely find her upon the Earth,” said the griffin master. “God will tell me when we must light back upon the ground.”
“The Lord shall bless you and keep you,” said Field Martial.
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“As the writer of the book of Hebrews closes his epistle, ‘Grace be with you all. Amen,’” said Sir Flanders.
“Master, remember the time upon this world before our land had become the Fifty-First State?” asked Captain of the Guard.
“And do you remember the time upon this world before the Griffin Keeper had his LongSpear for war and for battle?” asked Sergeant of Arms.
“And do you remember the time upon this world before we griffins came into your life?” asked Chief of Staff.
“That most memorial day that I met the Angel of the Lord of the Old Testament,” said the Griffin Keeper in reminiscence.
“The Angel of the Lord of the Old Testament Scriptures was a pre-incarnate Christ,” said one of the griffins.
“And He appeared to our master in this New Testament Earth,” said another griffin.
“That would probably make Him a post-incarnate Christ when He came down to speak to our master,” said another griffin.
“That is called ‘a Theophany,’” said the Griffin Keeper. “Or also ‘a Christophany.’”
“You saw Jesus, Master,” said Field Martial.
“I saw God, and I lived,” said Sir Flanders in august veneration of that day and its Lord Jesus.
“Master, did you fall down in worship before Him?” asked one of the griffins.
“It is written about Joshua when the Lord came down to speak to him,” said Sir Flanders in answer to his question: “’And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did
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worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot: for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.’ Joshua 5: 13-15.”
That day wherein God had come down from Heaven to speak to Sir Flanders was Sir Flanders’s second day of salvation. He had found this Christ as personal Saviour just the day before. This first day and this second day of Flanders’s born-again life took place about a year ago, just in the very beginnings of this seven-year tribulation calamity upon Earth. His yard then in Upper Michigan was not a vast countryside paradise. He knew nothing about his LongSpear soon to come. And he did not know a thing about griffins.
He now reminisced deeper into that day in which he saw God. “I was newly saved. I knew that now I would end up in Heaven someday because of that. And I knew that I would never end up in Hell, also because I got saved. I remember how I was walking about my beach along Lake Superior in the far north of the Upper Peninsula. I had my shoes off, and I was getting my bare feet cold at the edges of the waves of the coldest Great Lake. I had to get away from the waves and put my shoes back on to warm my feet back up. And I was thinking about the Lord, my new Heavenly Father. And I felt that I wanted to do something for him in my gratitude for all that He had done for me and for my soul the day before, my first day of salvation. And I looked Up to Heaven, and I asked God, ‘Now that I am saved, what do You will for me for the rest of my life?’
And a great voice as of the sound of many waters came down from Heaven, telling me, ‘I will show you how great things you must do for my name’s sake, My son.’
‘Behold your servant, O Father,’ I said to Him.
He then told me, ‘Take off your shoes, for you stand upon holy ground.’ And I did so. I did not then know that this sandy shore would someday be the northernmost part of what would become the Fifty-First State, and as such the most holy part of that vast holy refuge.”
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He then continued his recollections: “I was standing there on the dry sand in my bare feet, and then I saw a little white tornado descend to the ground and then ascend back up into the sky. And, behold, there stood my Saviour Himself in His regal glory! I at once fell down before Him in worship, and I said, ‘My Lord and my God!’
The Lord then said to me, ‘Fear not, Flanders Nickels. Peace be unto you. You shall not die.’ And I felt the Lord’s divine peace flow into my spirit and my soul. He then said to me, ‘Rise, my faithful son, I have heard your prayer, and I am come to tell you what you can do for me as my new convert and as my valiant soldier.’ Obeying God, I got back up to my feet.
‘Lord,’ I said, ‘I am the least in the kingdom of Heaven. Though I be a new convert, I be not a valiant soldier.’
‘The Lord is with you and will continue being with you, O mighty man of valor,’ said Jesus to me.
‘If it be your will for me, Lord, I will strive to be the best soldier that I can be for You,’ I promised Christ.
‘You, Flanders Nickels, will be my greatest warrior for the cause of good in all the world of this Earth of tribulation,’ Jesus said to me.
‘Good wars against evil,’ I said to Jesus.
‘And you will battle against devils, My son,’ Jesus said to me.
‘With what shall I battle against these demons, O Lord?’ I asked Jesus.
‘Your weapon, Sir Flanders, I shall call down from Heaven,’ said Jesus. And He looked Upward from where He had come, and he did say ‘Gabriel, bring down the weapon for my soldier.’
And, behold, Gabriel, the messenger angel, flew down from Heaven in the form of a holy and venerable and godly winged Good Gray Dragon.
He lighted upon the ground before us; he bowed his angelic head before Jesus in obeisance;
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and he said, ‘Lord, I stand in Your Presence.’ Along his back was a saddlebag at least ten feet long.
Jesus then opened this saddlebag, reached into it, and said to me, ‘My warrior servant, behold your weapon from God.’ And he pulled out a most long spear. It was truly a good ten feet long.
It was also a good three inches in diameter. And its point was as sharp as an arrowhead. And it glistened in the light of the sun in three different precious metals. Jesus said to me, ‘Behold your LongSpear, O great man of God. It is made of gold and of silver and of bronze. And I will help you to wield it in your battles. You do not deed to train with it. As long as you do humble yourself before me day by day in your Christian walk, I shall help you to fight the demons with My hands upon your hands as you do hold this in war.” He then dispatched Gabriel, and the angel flew back Up to Heaven.
‘Will I be contending against demons from Hell, Lord?’ I asked.
‘No, my son,’ said the Lord. ‘You will be contending against demons of the Earth,’ said Jesus.
‘Who are these demons of this world, O Lord?’ I asked.
‘I have called you this day, O Flanders Nickels, to have war against the four unicornmen and their four unicorns of the Apocalypse,’ declared Jesus Christ.
Whoa!” said this same Flanders a year later now with his griffins.
“What did you think when He told you that, O Master?” asked Field Martial.
“I went ahead and asked for reinforcements,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“That’s when we came,” said one of the griffins as the group was traveling.
“I immediately asked God, ‘Am I to fight these eight global demons alone with this spear?’ I betrayed my lack of faith in Jesus to fight with me back then, myself yet a babe in Christ.
But Jesus understood me, and he had compassion on me, and he said to me, ‘I shall give you twelve griffins who are not afraid to die for the cause of good, O Flanders Nickels. These are the greatest griffins in all of creation. They will be your troops, and you will be their master. And you will
become the renowned “Griffin Keeper.”’
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‘O Lord, when do I get to meet them?’ I asked Jesus.
And He said unto me, ‘They are coming right now. I have summoned them from the northwest and the northeast and the southwest and the southeast. The chief griffin I have summoned from due north.’
And then I saw them. They were coming from the distant horizon, but I could still see them. And when they drew nearer, I could see that they were in formation as of a straight line, one griffin following another. And when they did draw near I counted all twelve of them. The one in front was definitely the chief griffin both in greatness of size and in fierceness of countenance. They then lighted upon the ground and massed themselves in another straight line formation, this one horizontal, with the chief griffin in front of them and in the middle.
The chief griffin said to Christ, ‘I await Your command, O Maker.’
And Christ said to him, ‘Griffin of griffins, you are now to await this man’s commands.’
And this griffin of griffins looked me in the eye, and I looked this griffin of griffins in the eye. And there was accord and affinity in our countenances upon each other. I spoke to him first, asking, ‘Griffin of griffins, what is your name?’
And of course he said “My name is Field Martial.’
I then said, ‘My name is Sir Flanders Nickels.’
‘What would you command of us, Sir Flanders?’ asked Field Martial.
‘And I said, ‘I require a formal introduction from all of you.’ And all eleven other griffins gave their names. I then said, ‘And I have a request of you twelve.’
‘What is your request, and we will not say, “Nay.”’ said Field Martial.
‘I request that I become your new master,’ I then said.
The twelve griffins looked one another in the eyes, and then they all turned to me and said, ‘Aye, O good Master.’
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‘It is done,’ said Jesus.
“So be it thus done, O Griffin Keeper,’ said Field Martial.
Then the Lord said, ‘Soldiers of Christ, keep silence now and see the work that God will make upon the land. My son, tell me about your land here in Upper Michigan by this lake.’
‘It is a big rural piece of land in the wilderness,’ I said.
‘Is it one hundred acres?’ He asked me.
“You know, Lord. It is one hundred acres large,’ I said to Him.
“I can make it bigger,’ He said. ‘I can make it instead ten thousand square miles.’
‘Lord, that would be most of the Upper Peninsula!’ I told him.
‘Are there trials in your life in your countryside yard, My son?’ Jesus asked me.
‘Yes, Lord,’ I said. ‘There are trials up here in the north country.’
‘I can take away those trials in your life in your yard,’ Christ said to me then.
‘Only the Garden of Eden was that good, Lord,’ I told Him.
‘Would you like a new home?’ he then asked me.
I said, ‘My place is a broken down cabin.’
He said, ‘I shall make you a great and palatial cabin in its place, my good son.’
‘Thank You, Lord,’ I said.
And then he said, ‘Would you like a home for your new griffin pets, O Flanders?’
‘If you would make a home for my griffins, make it a better home than my own, O Lord.’ I did ask.
And Jesus said, ‘I shall make a Commons for them, O Flanders.’
‘When will all of this happen?’ I asked the Lord Jesus.
‘When the living Word of God speaks the spoken Word of God,” said Jesus. “All of you keep silence now as I speak My word and it comes to pass.’ Then Christ Jesus said, ‘O land of Sir Flanders
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Nickels, become now the Fifty-First State of the Griffin Keeper.’
Behold, Paradise in the midst of Earth!
Then that small white tornado came down again and came back up again, and the Saviour was gone back up to Heaven,” finished Flanders his true tale.
“And here we all are, a year later, Master,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“Together and one in Christ,” said Captain of the Guard.
“Both in peace and in war,” said Chief of Staff.
“On our way to find the girl that Jesus has for me,” said Sir Flanders.
One of the griffins said, “Master, we have covered a major portion of Florence County.’
“Let us stop and rest,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“What little town is that below us?” asked another griffin.
“I’ve been there before in my hunts,” said another griffin. “It looks like the town of Fence.”
“Let us descend and light upon the outskirts of this town of Fence,” said the Griffin Keeper.
And they came back down to the ground for a little respite from their flight. And the thirteen took to playing games and enjoying merry diversions. The griffins began to roughhouse among each other. Sir Flanders began to knock down trees by throwing his LongSpear into their trunks. The three sentinels began to play the game called, “I spy.” Field Martial began to attack trees and their limbs with his beak and talons and paws for good griffin fun. And after their playing was done they went around and ate berries for lunch—blueberries and raspberries and currants– from the many fields of this countryside.
Then the Griffin Keeper asked, “Shall we resume our journey in the air?”
All twelve griffins said, “Yes, Master!” in eagerness.
Just then Chief of Staff said, “Master, is there a smell of burning in the air? I smell fire and smoke.”
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And then Captain of the Guard said, “It is coming from due south about one mile away.”
And then Sergeant of Arms said, “It is not a natural fire, but rather a supernatural fire.”
The Griffin Keeper asked, “Field Martial, I consider your counsel.”
Field Martial said, “Master, we are no longer in our sanctuary of the Fifty-First State. My griffin gut feeling fears the worst.”
“My griffins,” said the Griffin Keeper, “when the worst is involved, we must turn to the Best.”
This Best was God. And Sir Flanders paused to have a word of prayer for victory in Jesus were there to be a battle coming.
Then the Griffin Keeper gave forth battle commands, “Six of you flank left! Six of you flank right!” And the griffin troops massed themselves as their master commanded, six in formation to each side of him. Sir Flanders gripped his LongSpear tightly in both hands and held it out in front of himself where he stood.
Behold, a red unicorn breathing out fire in a fierce charge toward them and with a rider upon his back, wielding a most fell deadly sword.
“Is this War, Master?” asked Field Martial in reference to the second unicornman of the Apocalypse.
“It is,” said Sir Flanders. “We are now meeting the rider on the red unicorn and his red unicorn,”
Then the Griffin Keeper gave forth more battle commands, “Form a circumference!” And his twelve griffins formed a circle around the fleet and fierce assaulting red unicorn and his redoubtable rider. Within this circle with these two foes was Sir Flanders alone. And War stopped his unicorn at once, and he sat there, holding his sword in the air, and he broke into great scorning laughter at them.
“What do you find amusing, rider on the red unicorn?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
War answered, “Mortals like you thirteen here, Sir Flanders.”
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“Do you think never yourself to die, rider?” asked Sir Flanders.
”I have started World War III, Sir Flanders. I have seen more death than you have seen life.
And I can make you thirteen valiant soldiers fight among yourselves,” said the rider on the red unicorn.
“You did not answer my question,” said the Griffin Keeper.
War began to swing his inimitable saber in the air before them.
Field Martial said, “Put that down, War! You irritate me with histrionics.”
Instead War pointed his sword most personally at Field Martial, and he said to Field Martial, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” And this rider then resumed swinging his saber about in the air before them.
Incensed, Field Martial said, “Rider on the red unicorn, I’m coming over there to take off your head!”
“Field Martial, do not advance yet!” commanded the Griffin Keeper.
The rider intensified his swinging about of his sword in the air.
Field Martial stopped in his assault at once in obedience to his master. But he did turn around and glared at his master with real ire.
“Comrade, I have never seen this countenance upon your face before,” the Griffin Keeper said to Field Martial.
“My countenance bewrays only a modicum of the wrath in my heart,” said Field Martial bluntly.
“My friend and my subordinate, is there a dissension among my ranks?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
“There is if you think there is, Master,” said Field Martial.
All this while, the rider on the red unicorn was brandishing his sword in the air. The Griffin Keeper, in seeing his first rebellion in his troops here in his best soldier, paused to contemplate. Looking back at his other eleven troops, Sir Flanders saw them looking upon him dubiously. They
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were still massed in the circle around War and his unicorn, but this circle was full of unequal gaps now.
The Griffin Keeper gave more battle orders, “Griffins of the circle, advance and converge!”
Captain of the Guard said, “I cannot do that, Master.”
Chief of Staff said, “I will not do that, O Master.”
And Sergeant of Arms said, “That is not my job, my Master.”
And the eight lesser griffins defiantly rebelled against their master’s God-ordained authority and sat down upon the ground.
“War, I command you in the name of the Lord, ‘Stop swinging your sword of war about like that.’” demanded the griffins’ master.
The phrase “in the name of the Lord,” smote the rider hard into his wrist, and he almost dropped his saber in battle for his first time. In dismay, the Griffin Keeper saw War simply switch hands. And, holding his saber in his left hand now, the rider on the red unicorn resumed his supernatural battle with the magic of his weapon, swinging it about above his head with his left arm now.
“Rider on the red unicorn, you cannot defeat me and my griffins in natural battle with your sword, but you seek to defeat me and my griffins in supernatural battle with your sword,” declared the Griffin Keeper in discernment.
“Behold, the great and mighty Griffin Keeper with a mutiny among his griffins!” declared the rider on the red unicorn. “He! He! He!” he laughed in festive gloat.
“This ‘mutiny,’ rider, will never reach fruition,” said Sir Flanders.
“It is approaching climax, Flanders Nickels,” said War.
“It shall end,” said Sir Flanders, aiming his LongSpear for a throw.
“I dare you to throw that LongSpear at me, little man,” said the rider on the red unicorn.
And, calling upon Jesus, Sir Flanders threw his LongSpear as a javelin toward this rider’s left wrist above his head as he sat upon the red unicorn.
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And twelve real griffins and a man saw an unprecedented feat—War got wounded in battle! His left wrist was maimed by the LongSpear. In panic the rider on the red unicorn shook the LongSpear out of his impaled wrist, and the LongSpear bounced off of his unicorn’s horn and fell to the ground closer to where the Griffin Keeper was than where the rider was. And as War held up his left arm, his left hand let his sword slip away out of his grasp for his first time since having come to invade the Earth at the inception of this tribulation world. As his saber fell, War tried to grab it out of the air with his right hand, but missed. Then his red unicorn tried to catch his master’s falling sword with his unicorn horn; and he snatched it out of the air before it could reach the ground, his horn sliding in through the saber’s grandiose haft. The unicorn then proffered the rider his sword back, and the rider, bitter, grabbed it back up in his right hand once again, which still stung and was numb yet from the spoken name of the Lord. And in a rage that reached Up to Heaven, the rider on the red unicorn yelled out a curse that reached down to Hell. And War’s blood was spilling out of his left wrist profusely. War had to get out of here in a hurry. And he sought how to get out.
But now the griffins were beginning to break free from his saber’s spell upon them from the rider’s black magic. Accord came back to their eyes one for another. And the griffins and their master began to apologize one to another. And complete reconciliation and unity came back once again among Sir Flanders’s family of warriors. The supernatural magic of the rider’s sword could only work as long as its rider was striking air with it. And now War could not even strike griffin or master with his sword. And the rider on the red unicorn found himself pausing from action in a bad time to become confused in combat. In obedience to their master’s previous battle commands, they now surely began to encircle and march. As the rider sat upon his red unicorn, the circle of griffins around him were now coming in unto him from all sides. War saw the Griffin Keeper walk up and take back his LongSpear. War saw his left wrist dripping red blood upon his red unicorn. And War saw the twelve griffins of the side of good now closing up any lanes of escape for him.
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In all due scorn, the Griffin Keeper asked the rider on the red unicorn, “Must War flee battle?,” provoked the rider with a play on words.
But Field Martial went one step further into pun and said, “War must flee war.”
And all twelve unicorns and their master said point-blank at the rider on the red unicorn, “Ha! Ha! Ha!” right back into his own ears.
Then Sir Flanders saw the rider on the red unicorn exude subtlety on his seasoned countenance.
And his red unicorn, by an uncanny chemistry between demons, betrayed also a guileful look upon his own equine face. The rider came upon an idea, and instantly his unicorn also knew his rider’s idea without any spoken word or any sign between them. And the rider spoke his word, “Execute!”
In exigency, the Griffin Keeper, suddenly comprehending this hidden battle tactic, yelled out to his troops, “To the ground!”
And the red unicorn executed the secret strategy. And the red unicorn suddenly shot fire out of his mouth, and he turned his unicorn body about in place, making a three hundred sixty-degree turn from where he was standing, all this while spewing out fire outward from his mouth out toward the griffins and their master. But the thirteen soldiers for Christ had dropped themselves down to the ground on their bellies and stretched themselves flat. And the fire passed by just above their backs and did miss them.
But the circle of the phalanx of griffins was compromised by this work of the red unicorn. And the rider of the red unicorn found a lane through which he could escape. This was what he had planned with his red unicorn’s firestorm. And, with all of his military wisdom as the author of World War III, this second unicornman of the Apocalypse broke through a hole in the circle, riding his red unicorn faster than any other quadruped. And the demon of war and his familiar did get away from The Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins.
“Let us go after him, O Master,” said Field Martial in great martial fervor.
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“We cannot catch the rider on the red unicorn, my worthy friend and comrade,” said Sir Flanders. ‘The red unicorn runs faster than griffins fly.”
“We lost the battle,” cried out one of the griffins in remorse.
“We let the foe get away,” said another of the griffins in apology.
“We failed you, O Master,” said another of the griffins.
“My good and faithful family,” said the Griffin Keeper in compassion and in edification, “this day we are the first witnesses in this whole planet to have seen the rider on his red unicorn and his red unicorn to flee in battle for their lives. We beat War at his own game. He got scared. He panicked. And he ran away from us. War himself fled us in battle! No more valiant and brave victory has anybody in history brought about in the power of God than what the Lord brought about through us just now! Let us now have a word of prayer and give our Jesus the glory.”
“Amen, Master!” said the twelve griffins from all due encouragement. And they gathered in a prayer circle, and their keeper prayed and gave thanks to the Lord for today’s victory in battle. And when the Griffin Keeper closed his prayer, saying, “In Jesus’s name. Amen,” all twelve griffins in like said again, “Amen!”
Then Field Martial said, “Master, what about the girl?”
“Yes. The girl,” said Sir Flanders. “She awaits me at the end of my journey.”
“Cherchez la femme,” said Field Martial.
“Let us now go back into the skies, and let us resume our flight,” said Sir Flanders. “We are almost all the way through Florence County. Let us continue journeying south.”
And with this Sir Flanders resumed his search for his Fair Lady Guinevere out there whose real name was as much a mystery to him yet as was her real person.
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CHAPTER VIII
It was dusk, and Flanders Nickels was alone with his three watchmen of the griffins. The other griffins were out hunting for food for the group. These four soldiers-of-Christ were discussing the world of the tribulation out here so void of the Holy Ghost worldwide.
“It all started with the rider on the white unicorn and his false prophet,” said Captain of the Guard.
“What the one of them cannot do with the power of Satan, the other one of them can do with the power of Satan,” said Sir Flanders.
“That false prophet is the rider’s best cheerleader, Master,” said Chief of Staff.
“And he calls down fire from heaven,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“The rider Antichrist was mortally wounded in the head by a sword, and yet he survived and got well,” said Captain of the Guard.
“Even then his crown had never fallen from his head,” said Sir Flanders.
“The both of them curse God like Lucifer,” said Chief of Staff.
“Men of perdition—especially antichrist,” said the Griffin Keeper.
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“The rider’s got charisma,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“They say that he has all of the answers to the world’s problems, but the Devil himself indwells him,” said Captain of the Guard.
“And the peace that he promises the world is false peace,” said Chief of Staff.
“The rider on the white unicorn is so black on the inside, but his unicorn and his attire are so white on the outside,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“His white unicorn is endowed with great white wings,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“The only unicorn with wings that I ever heard about is Antichrist’s white unicorn,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Antichrist’s white unicorn can fly almost as fast as Gabriel himself,” said Chief of Staff.
“That is how Antichrist got around so fast in this world and won everybody’s favor, riding his white unicorn as he does,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“He went to and fro in this Earth and walked up and down in it,” said Captain of the Guard, “just as Satan and his demons do.”
“But when it comes to fighting, no twosome can fight like the rider on the red unicorn and his red unicorn,” said Sir Flanders.
“Master, his sword is almost as long as is your LongSpear,” said Chief of Staff.
“Did not those two provoke this World War III that we are all in?” asked Sir Flanders.
“The red unicorn has burned up whole forests and whole fields of grain with his fires,” said Captain of the Guard.
“That rider on the red unicorn had a talk with Russia’s ruler, and now Russia—Gog and Magog—are marching upon Israel,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“That’s not all,” said Chief of Staff. “He also had a chat with the leader of China, and now a Chinese army of two hundred million troops are also marching toward Israel.”
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“He also convinced the Arab nations to form a coalition against Israel and also to march toward Israel with their combined Islamic armies,” said Captain of the Guard.
“We four ate talking about Armageddon to come,” said the Griffin Keeper. “It is written about this last battle, ‘And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.’ Revelation 14:20.”
Chief of Staff said, “’Unto the horse bridles,’ means ‘four feet high.’”
Sergeant of Arms said, “’By the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.’ means ‘one hundred eighty-four miles.”
“A veritable lake of blood all from one battle,” said Captain of the Guard.
“And this battle of Armageddon will take place in Israel in the plain of Megiddo,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“And this blood will not be the blood of the Israelites,” said Captain of the Guard. “It shall be the blood of the enemies of the Israelites.”
“”The Lord Jesus Himself will come down from Heaven and fight for the Israelites and put down all evil and all wickedness,” said Sir Flanders. Then he said, “Let us talk about the rider on the black unicorn and his black unicorn.”
“The rider on the black unicorn goes around and makes fields of grain instead dry deserts,’ said Chief of Staff.
“And the black unicorn—who can contend against him in battle?” asked Sergeant of Arms. “Maybe you and your LongSpear, Master, but I do not know.”
“The rider on the black unicorn has a most despicable balance scale,” said Captain of the Guard.
“Why, his balance scale is making America once the land of plenty now a poverty nation.”
“And he has used his pair of balances to bring about worldwide hunger and thirst from cataclysmic famines and droughts,” said Flanders Nickels.
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“Even Wisconsin dairy farmers are going hungry,” said Chief of Staff.
“Epidemics and pandemics and pestilences and plagues, all brought to mankind by the rider on the black unicorn, are ravaging our planet,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“That dastardly demon has even brought back leprosy to this world,” said Captain of the Guard.
“And the five Great Lakes are now waters of wormwood from the work of the rider on the black unicorn,” said the keeper of the griffins.
“Rivers are now poison. Lakes are now poison. Creeks are now poison. Ponds are now poison,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“And drinking water is poison, Master,” said Chief of Staff.
“Grocery store shelves are emptying out. Restaurants are closing up. People can no longer afford to eat and to drink,” said Captain of the Guard.
“Of all of the riders and of their unicorns, I fear the most the black unicorn,” said the Griffin Keeper. “He seems immortal.”
“The black unicorn,” said Chief of Staff with an exhalation. “I would think that it would take archangel Michael to take him down.”
“They say that weapons cannot harm the black unicorn, O Master,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“Regular spears and swords and stones and arrows only end up scratching his hide without even scrapes. And nothing stops him.”
“On time a catapult heaved a boulder at the black unicorn where he was standing, and it hit its mark, and it struck him hard upon his right side, and it knocked him off of his feet and down upon his side,” said Captain of the Guard. “But he got right back up again like nothing hit him!”
”That dread black unicorn is truly the most physically powerful creature on this Earth,” declared Sir Flanders.
“Is there not yet another unicorn more fearsome even than he?” asked Chief of Staff.
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“And, Master, is there not a rider even more intimidating than any of the three other riders?” asked Captain of the Guard.
“The two who have killed one out of ever four people who live upon this Earth,” said Sergeant of Arms, “One billion five hundred million slain out of this world’s six billion people.”
“God have mercy,” said Sir Flanders. “The rider Death on his pale unicorn.”
“Death, who wields his fell scythe and his damning sickle,” said Chief of Staff.
“And Hell follows after Death,” said Captain of the Guard.
“The pale unicorn can with a call through his unicorn horn summons demons from below the Earth.” said Sergeant of Arms.
“Death has swung his scythe and struck dead so far one and one-half billion people,” said the Griffin Keeper. “But with his sickle he does even worse things than he does with his scythe,”
“I fear not Death’s scythe,” said Captain of the Guard. “But I do fear Death’s sickle,”
“And I, too, Master,” said Chief of Staff.
“And I, too, my Master,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“When Death strikes a man with his sickle, he puts that man into a dream about Hell; he sends that man’s soul into a virtual Hell; and that man feels all the torments of Hell. After a while, that man revives and he wakes up and he is back on this Earth. But from then on that man is too afraid to die and too afraid to live for the rest of his life on Earth.” summed up the Griffin Keeper Death’s sickle of doom. Those who commit suicide from this usually go to the real eternal Hell. And those who do not commit suicide from this and who choose to survive usually die in the end and go to the real and eternal Hell anyway.”
“That rider on the pale unicorn is diabolical!” exclaimed Captain of the Guard.
“He loves Hell so much for others, he should see it for himself one of these days,: said Chief of Staff.
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“His scythe of death is bad enough for what it has done, but this sickle is worse than death,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“In John 8:44, it says that Satan is a murderer from the beginning,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Does it not make sense that Satan is the father of Death on his pale unicorn?”
“Master, how many demons can the pale unicorn summon for his battles against humanity?” asked Chief of Staff.
“He can summon one demon up from below for each toot he gives on his unicorn horn,” said
the Griffin Keeper.
Sergeant of Arms went on to say, “But the pale unicorn can summon only twelve demons per battle.”
“And also, though they be fallen angels, these demons are lesser demons than our foes the four unicornmen and the four unicorns of the Apocalypse,”said Captain of the Guard.
It was twilight now, and the other nine griffins were coming back from the great hunt. In their eagle talons was delicious edible game of many sorts from here in northeastern Wisconsin– a deer and a wolf and a fox and a badger and a beaver and a rabbit and a turkey.
“Ah. Let’s eat!” said their master as his hunting party lighted upon the ground with this good meat. And he built a fire, and he cooked this game, and the mighty warriors had a feast. And it was night now in the light of a full moon. And they turned in for the night.
The next morning, they all rose up for the day at dawn. “We have passed into Marinette County,” said Sir Flanders. “And we are just outside the town of Pembine.”
“Is the girl in Marinette County? Is the girl in Pembine?” asked Field Martial.
“The Holy Spirit has told me, ‘No.’” said Sir Flanders. “She is south a couple more counties.”
“We griffins know history better even than man does,” said Field Martial. “But we have not the Holy Spirit guiding us as you born-again Christians do yourselves.”
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“You griffin-kind are the foremost historians of the world,” said their master.
Assents of many “Aye’s” passed among Sir Flanders’s pets.
“And I was always wondering lately about something,” said Sir Flanders. “When in creation’s six-day week did God create griffins? I know that on the fifth day of creation God made eagles, and on the sixth day of creation God created lions. But you griffins are both eagle and lion at once and yet neither eagle or lion alone.”
And the twelve griffins, with their great wisdom of history, each told their master something that they knew about the creation of their kind. And the following was a summary of their words of how the first griffins had come into the world at the hands of the Maker: Griffins antedated light in the creation. God had created light on the first day of creation. Hence Griffins were created before the first day of creation. In Genesis 1:1, the first verse of Scripture, it was written, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The name “God” in this verse was translated from the name “Elohim.” And God’s name “Elohim” referred to God in His creative power and in His authority and in His sovereignty. This God was the Authoritative Sovereign Creator. This Elohim created the heaven and the earth. The next verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:2, Scripture’s second verse, was a mystery than only griffins could explain. This verse said the following: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” At the time of this verse, this world Earth was not, was, and was to come, all by the Word spoken by God. Griffin-kind’s forefathers were ante-creation griffins who lived in this original heaven and earth of the time of this Genesis 1:2. Before God the Maker had said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, He had said, “Let there be griffins,” and there were griffins. God saw the griffins that He made, and He saw that it was very good. And the evening and the morning were before the first day. And ever since then, griffins have passed down their wisdom of the world of that original day from generation to generation faithfully in the six thousand years of history since unto this day.
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And, of course, these learned historians around the Griffin Keeper knew all about what the world looked like in those days of the second Bible verse. And they told him that this world was not yet the sphere of life in a universe of order. They told him that there was not yet then skies and lands and seas. They told him that it was a great depth. They told him of great peaceful darkness. They told him of a waters that were endless and without shores. They told him that these waters were cool, dark, motionless, without waves, and flat. And they told him that God the Holy Spirit rested upon these waters in an original paradise for Himself.
But the Maker was lonely alone in his paradise before creation. And just before He began to make creation in the six days of work of creation, He made griffins. He spoke the Word and flocks of griffins flew in the firmament above the waters in the dark of original earth. And God found happy companionship with the griffins. And God was lonesome no longer. And griffins flew about in the miracle of life in this heavenly void.
Then Elohim the Creator-God went on to create light on the first day; the sky on the second day; the seas and the continents and the grass and the plants and the trees on the third day; the sun and the moon and the stars on the fourth day; the fish and the birds on the fifth day; and the mammals and the people on the sixth day; and ceased from His work on the seventh day.
“That, my Master, is a little about where the first griffin had come from in creation,” said Field Martial.
“I feel pleasingly humbled as a man after hearing all of this,” said Sir Flanders, having learned the secrets of the griffins.
“Be a little proud, Master,” said Field Martial. “Though we griffins were created to befriend
God, you people were created to worship God. The moment that God had made mankind, your kind, Master, was given authority over my kind. God has man to rule His earth. And God has us griffins to serve man.”
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“I am duly flattered to have you twelve not only as servants, but above all as friends and laborers-in-Christ and comrades in battle. I love you all,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“And we all love you, Master,” said the twelve griffins.
Then Field Martial asked, “Did God create your kind with the spoken Word as He had our kind, Master?”
“He did,” said Sir Flanders. “In Genesis 1:26-28, it is written about that, ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
“Master,” called forth one of the griffins, “what does the Bible mean when it says that your kind was created in God’s own image?”
And the Griffin Keeper said, “That means that I was born with an eternal soul. Because I have a soul within me, I will live forever—either in Heaven in the life to come or in Hell in the life to come.
In my case, because I became a born-again believer, when I die, I go straight Up to Heaven.”
“We griffins do not have souls,” said one of the griffins.
“When we die, we return to the earth as dust,” said another griffin.
“We will never get to go to Heaven,” said another griffin.
“We will never have to go to Hell,” said another griffin.
“It is written,” said the Griffin Keeper about his soul, “’And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.’ Genesis 2:7.”
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One of the griffins spoke up and said, “Adam was the first of your kind, wasn’t he, Master?”
“Yes. Adam was the first man that God created,” said the Griffin Keeper.
This same griffin then said, “And was Eve the second of your kind?”
“Yes,” said Sir Nickels. “Eve was the first woman that God created.”
Another griffin asked, “Then was Eve created the same way that Adam was created?”
“Do you mean, ‘Was Eve created out of nothing by the Word of God?’” asked Sir Flanders.
“Yes, Master,” said that same griffin.
“God made the first woman a little differently than He made the first man,” taught the Griffin Keeper his griffins wisdom from Genesis chapter two. In the light of the morning sun shining down upon his King James Bible, the master of the band of griffins read out loud to them, “’And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Genesis 2:21-23.”
One of the griffins spoke up and said, “God must have known that Adam would have been lonely without Eve just as He Himself was before creation.”
“It is written,” quoted Sir Flanders. “’And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.’ Genesis 2:18.”
“This ‘help meet’ O Master,” said one of the griffins. “Is this what your ‘Fair Lady Guinevere’ could become for you?”
“She would make me happy, Yes,” said Sir Flanders.
“Are you unhappy with us, Master?” asked another of the griffins.
“I am happy with you very much,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Is a girlfriend better for you than twelve pet griffins, Master?” asked another griffin.
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“I need my twelve pet griffins, and I need my girlfriend,” replied Sir Flanders.
“When you find her, Master, how will you know that she be the one from God for you?” asked another griffin.
“I will know her by her salvation,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“You will know that she’s the one for you because she is a born-again Christian like yourself, Master,” said another griffin.
“And she will be living for Jesus in her daily walk,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Those kind of women stick out,” said another griffin.
“Those kind of girls are not easy to find,” said another griffin.
“If there be such a girl who is both saved and great in Christ, God can find her for you,” said another griffin.
“Will she be as pretty on the outside as she is on the inside, Master?” asked another griffin.
“She will be even more comely on the outside than she is on the inside,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Do you think that she will come to you?” asked another griffin.
“I believe that God will have me to come to her,” said Sir Nickels.
“Then she must be waiting for you, Master,” said another griffin.
“I shall not be waiting for her,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Does she know that you are coming?” asked another griffin.
“I believe that just as God had sent me a seagull or two to tell me about the girl, God probably sent the girl a seagull or two to tell her about myself,” said Sir Nickels.
“Do you think that she will have an instant crush on you, Master?” asked one of the griffins.
“That would be like magic,” he said.
“And do you think that you will have an instant crush on her?” asked another griffin.
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“That would be a blessing from God indeed,” said Sir Flanders.
“What is that like—liking a pretty girl and all like that all of a sudden?” asked another griffin.
“You griffins cannot comprehend romance of infatuation,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Some people call it ‘that old black magic,’ only it is more like white magic. One could even fall in love.
The girl becomes more exciting to you even than yourself. A guy starts to think, ‘What can I do to make this girl happy?’ A guy would want to go shopping with this girlfriend for nice clothes for her to put on for him and look even more alluring, and this guy would be glad to pay for these outfits from his
own wallet. A quick little hug here, and a quick little kiss there. Romance of piggyback rides and romance of horsey-back rides. Singing from the hymnbook together and singing from the Christmas carol book together. Sharing Bible study and prayer meeting together. Introducing you griffins to her; and her, to you griffins. Sharing the girlfriend with you, and sharing you with the girlfriend. You, Field Martial, and Fair Lady Guinevere becoming great friends in my new life with a girlfriend. I could take her back home to my Fifty-First State and build her a house close to my house. And my wonderful new girlfriend-in-the-Lord would be my special lady companion in paradise in the Fifty-First State were I to prevail in Christ and slay the unicornmen and their unicorns in battle.”
Field Martial went on to say, “As you know, Master, once the unicorn men and their unicorns of the Apocalypse are dead, Christ will come in His Second Coming and put down all evil and all sin and form a new world.”
“And He shall rule for a thousand years,” said Chief of Staff.
“You know it as the ‘Millennial Reign,’” said Captain of the Guard.
“It shall be Heaven on Earth,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“Fair Lady Guinevere and I can share the Millennial Reign of Christ together,” said Sir Flanders, with a look of reverie in his features.
“”This special gal you could call, Master, your ‘Girlfriend for a Thousand Years,’” said Field
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Martial.
Sir Flanders quickly spoke and said, “Or ‘My Betrothed of the Millennial Reign!’”
Field Martial said, “This morning is waning, and afternoon is waxing.”
“Griffins, let us resume our journey south. The girl awaits her guy. A man cannot keep a woman waiting. Let us go,” said Sir Flanders. And Field Martial proffered his back to his master, and Sir Flanders mounted his precious griffin friend, and he said, “Let us lift up into the sky.” And the thirteen travelers ascended high up into the skies above Pembine, and they continued their flight across Marinette County to find the girl.
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CHAPTER IX
Lady Jenny and Lady Tracy were riding Journeyman on their way to the Outagamie County Theme Park. Tracy was chattering away; Jenny was silent with her thoughts. After some time like this, Lady Tracy said to her, “Whatcha thinking about, Jen?’”
“Sir Flanders,” said Lady Jenny.
“I knew that already,” said Lady Tracy.
“How come you asked then?” asked Jennifer Jubilee with a tease to her tone.
“Because I wanted to hear his name from your lips,” said Tracy.
“You kind of like him, too. Don’t you, Trace?’” asked Lady Jenny.
“Uh huh,” said Tracy Westwind with a nod of her head.
“I kind of like him, too,” said Lady Jenny.
“You cannot fool me, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy. “You don’t just kind of like the Griffin Keeper. You are crazy for the Griffin Keeper.”
“Yeah!” said Lady Jennifer in fervid assent.
“All the gals want Sir Flanders as their boyfriend, but he refuses all of them because they are not born again as he is,” said Miss Westwind.
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“But this girl riding a donkey with you now is born again,” said Miss Jubilee.
“Very born again, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy. “And he can’t refuse you.”
“And a humble Christian woman like myself can never deny the great Griffin Keeper,” said Lady Jenny.
“Jenny, in one word or less, describe the Griffin Keeper,” said Lady Tracy.
In mirth, Lady Jennifer laughed and said, “Tall, dark, and handsome.”
“That’s four words, Jen,’” said Tracy Westwind.
“Sir Flanders is worth four words. He deserves better than one word,” quipped Lady Jenny.
“’Tall,’ ‘dark,’ ‘handsome.,’” said Tracy. “Are we talking about the same guy?”
“Well, the man is not really tall,” said Lady Jennifer.
“He’s short,” said Lady Tracy. “He is no taller than you and I are, and we are girls.”
“And really, the griffin master is not a dark fellow,” said Lady Jenny.
‘He’s white. He is so white that he could be said to be pale,” said Miss Westwind.
“But he is handsome, compared to some men,” said Lady Jenny.
“Compared to some men. Yes,’ said Lady Tracy. “Why, the Griffin Keeper has the biggest pair of buck teeth I have ever seen in a man.”
“Yet he’s a hunk, Trace!” said Jenny Jubilee.
“He’s so cute!” agreed Lady Tracy.
“All of the world wonders upon my Griffin Keeper in great admiration,” said Miss Jubilee.
“Your Griffin Keeper?” asked Tracy with a grin.
“Pretty soon, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny, without retraction.
“With your God working all of these things out for you with the Griffin Keeper, you can call him ‘your Flanders,’” said Lady Tracy.
“Yes!” said Jennifer Jubilee. “My Flanders!”
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“And you can be ‘his Jenny,” said Tracy Westwind.
“He can call me ‘my Jenny,’” said Miss Jubilee. “What new things that you put into my heart, Trace.’”
“I can see that your Jesus is good to you,” said Lady Tracy.
“’The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.’ Lamentations 3:25,” quoted Lady Jennifer all due Scripture.
“I was wondering when you would start back with those Bible verses, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
“It did not take you long.”
“’O taste and see that the Lord is good:…’ Psalm 34:8.”quoted Miss Jubilee another apropos King James Bible verse.
“Encore!” encouraged Tracy Westwind.
“It is written, ‘The Lord is good to all:…’ Psalm 145:9” said Lacy Jennifer another verse about the Lord’s goodness.
“You almost make me to want to believe in God the way you do, Jen,’’’ said Lady Tracy.
“I really believe, dear Tracy, that that day may come for you,” said Lady Jennifer.
“You mean that I will become a Christian, too, like you,” said Lady Tracy.
“I pray for that for you every day,” said Lady Jenny.
“Prayers are good things,” said Miss Westwind.
“So great salvation is the most good thing of all good things,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Is it better than dating?” asked Tracy Westwind.
“It is the difference between Heaven and Hell,” said Jennifer Jubilee.
“I like men more than I like Christ,” said Tracy.
“I could learn to love the Griffin Keeper more than I love myself, but I love my Saviour with all of my heart and with all of my soul and with all of my mind and with all of my strength,” said Lady
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Jennifer.
“That’s intense,” said Lady Tracy.
“He is Lord,” said Jennifer.
“What do you think that you will do when you see the Lord’s Griffin Keeper standing before you about to ask you out for a first date?” asked Lady Tracy.
After taking in these sweet words into her woman’s heart, Lady Jenny asked, “Is it possible for a gal like myself to fall in love with a guy at first sight?”
“It could happen,” said Tracy, most experienced with men.
“Did you ever fall in love at first sight, Trace?’” asked Lady Jenny.
“Not for me yet,” said Lady Tracy. “But it sure would be fun if I did.”
“What does a young woman say to the world’s greatest man?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“Tell him what you feel,” said Miss Westwind. “We women, as you know, get all filled up with feelings. Flanders Nickels is a good man. He will not hurt you if you tell him how you feel about him.”
“Most of all he and I have Jesus in common,” said Miss Jenny Jubilee.
“Jen,’ you start talking about Christ to that Christian guy and you will fall in love with him before you know it; and he, with you,” said Lady Tracy.
“If it works out with us as boyfriend-and-girlfriend-in-Christ, maybe he and I can go wassailing together in the falling snow of Christmas Eve or Christmas Day,” said Lady Jennifer with dream in her pretty eyes.
“What is ‘wassailing?’” asked Lady Tracy. “Does that mean ‘partying?’”
Miss Jubilee burst into laughter through her nose, and she said, “Now my nose hurts, Trace.’”
Lady Tracy began to laugh with herself and with her best friend, and she said, “I give. What’s it mean?”
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“It means ‘caroling.’” said Lady Jenny.
“Oh. You mean going door-to-door and singing Christmas carols outside,” said Miss Westwind.
“Yes, woman,” said Lady Jennifer. “Christmas carols like, ‘Wassail, Wassail, All Over the Town,’ and like, ‘Here We Come A’wassailing.’”
In tease of her self, Lady Tracy said, “Party, Party, All Over the Town” and ‘Here We Come A’partying.”
“Goofy woman!” said Jenny Jubilee.
Lady Tracy then turned to the donkey and petted him on his side, and she said, “What do you think about us silly girls, Journeyman?” And he brayed out in incomprehension.
“Oh no,” said Lady Jenny. “What if the Griffin Keeper does not care for my Journeyman, Tracy?”
“Don’t worry about that, Jenny,” said Tracy. “The Griffin Keeper is an animal lover. He likes all animals.”
“Even my beloved donkey?” asked Jenny.
“If the man loves the mistress of the donkey, he will also love the donkey of the mistress,” reassured Miss Westwind with a clever saying.
“Oh, Trace,’ you’re too much,” said Miss Jubilee. “Thanks for telling me that.”
“On the other hand… about myself, Jenny. He might not like me. I am a woman who sins, and he is a man who does not sin. What would a dirty woman like myself be doing talking to a clean man like Sir Nickels? He might not at all like to talk to a woman like myself. What if the great Griffin Keeper does not like me? I’d feel so bad if he had nothing to do with me, Jen,’” said Tracy Westwind.
“Tracy, Tracy, if I may borrow the way of saying things as my best friend does, ‘If Sir Flanders loves as a girlfriend the best friend of Tracy Westwind, he will love as a person the Tracy Westwind of the best friend,” most articulately conjured Lady Jennifer Jubilee.
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“Woman, you got me there!” exclaimed Lady Tracy. “Now I know that the Griffin Keeper will like me.”
“After all he sins, too, like the rest of us,” said Lady Jenny.
“Lady Jennifer,” Tracy Westwind rebuked her. “Bite your tongue, girl.”
“Oh yeah,” insisted Miss Jubilee. “It is written in the Good Book, ‘For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.’ Ecclesiastes 7:20, O Tracy.”
“Next you’ll be telling me that you are a sinner, too, Jen,’” said Miss Westwind.
“Oh yes. I sin from time to time too,” said Lady Jenny.
“Prove it,” said Lady Tracy. “Show me one time when you sinned.”
“Do you remember that time that you baked a dozen peanut butter cookies from scratch for your date of the night?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“Yeah. I do. You cookie stealer!” said Tracy Westwind.
“I ate them all up on you, and I left none for you and your boyfriend,” confessed Jenny Jubilee.
“Cookie thief,” said Lady Tracy remembering. “That was a first class bad thing that you did, Jenny.”
“That was a sin that I committed,” said Lady Jenny. “In the eighth commandment God says, ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ And I stole. In fact I stole from my best friend.”
“Sinner,” called forth Lady Tracy. “I believe you now. I can see that I am not the only sinner around here between me and you.” Then she paused to think and then to say, “If you sin in your Christian life, then maybe the Griffin Keeper also sins in his Christian life.”
“We born-again believers are not sinless, but we do sin less,” said Lady Jennifer Jubilee.
“I remember how you were more like me before you got saved,” said Lady Tracy.
“Before I found Christ as Saviour I used to steal pumpkin pies and pecan pies from the grocery store,” confessed Lady Jenny.
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“I still steal boyfriends from all of the girls out there,” bragged Lady Tracy.
“That’s not good in the eyes of God,” said Jennifer Jubilee.
“But then after I steal these boyfriends away, I go and do even worse things with them once I have them,” confessed Tracy Westwind.
“You shouldn’t do that,” said Lady Jenny.
“I know, but it is so fun,” said Lady Tracy.
“Christ changed me,” said Lady Jennifer. “He wants to change you, too.”
“Oh, but I don’t want to change,” said Tracy Westwind.
“’That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;’ Ephesians 4:22,” quoted Lady Jenny good Scripture. “’And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.’ Ephesians 4:24.”
“’The old man of sin’ and ‘the new man in Christ,’” said Tracy. “I heard you preach that to me before, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy. “You tell me that that getting born again is the dividing line between those two lifestyles.”
“I was once ‘the old woman of sin,’ and now I am ‘the new woman in Christ,’” said Lady Jennifer Jubilee.
“I do have to say that God has made a good work in you since you got saved,” said Lady Tracy.
Just then the good donkey stopped and gave forth a “hee haw” and looked on up ahead. The girls looked onward at what he was looking at.
“Ah, Jen,’ the Outagamie County Theme Park right up ahead,” said Tracy Westwind.
“I can’t wait!” said Lady Jenny jumping off of the back of good Journeyman.
“Nor I, either,” said Miss Westwind also leaping off of Jenny’s donkey.
And the two young women ran up to the sign to read today’s Bible verse for the vision there. The two women got to the sign at the same time, and this was the Scripture verse that they both read
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together out loud simultaneously: “Ir is written, ‘And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.’ Revelation 19:9.”
Lady Tracy said, “This sounds like dinner time.”
“Indeed! And with the Good Lord!” said Lady Jenny.
“We’ll be right back, Journeyman,” called back Tracy Westwind.
“We girls will eat with God!” said Jennifer to her donkey.
“I’m hungry,” said Tracy.
The donkey brayed, bidding them to have a good time. And the two girls passed, one after the other, through the gate of this county’s theme park. And this time Jenny could see Tracy, and Tracy could see Jenny. Lady Jenny had heard how God had added this benefit to this theme park’s dream for this month as a special feature for its visitors.
Before the two young women was a seemingly infinite banquet table with a feast unlike any seen on Earth. In this vision were all of the redeemed of all ages and of all dispensations in Earth’s six-thousand year history. All of the saints were sitting at this endless table. And Jesus Christ Himself was sitting at the head of this table indeed not far away at all from the girls standing here. Lady Jenny saw God eating. And the Lord was eating manna. This Saviour was here in all of His regal glory.
Lady Tracy whispered in Lady Jenny’s ear, “I wonder if Samson is here.”
“I think so,” said Jenny back in Tracy’s ear. “I am sure that he was one of the believers.”
“I’m dying to find him and to sit next to him and to eat with him,” said Tracy. “Do you want to help me find him?”
“I want to sit down right around here not far from Jesus,” said Lady Jenny.
“But how will I find him here—Samson?” insisted Lady Tracy.
“I don’t know.” said Lady Jennifer. “Look for a fellow with the jaw of an ass on his plate.”
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“How come?” asked Lady Tracy.
“Because God worked mightily for him with the jaw of an ass,” said Lady Jenny.
“I think that I see him now over there to the right a little way,” said Tracy Westwind.
“Jesus if over here to the left a little way, Trace,’” said Lady Jennifer.
“Let’s sit by Samson,” said the unsaved Lady Tracy.
“Let’s sit by Jesus,” said the saved Lady Jenny.
“What a hunk that that Samson is,” said Lady Tracy.
“Trace,’ you’re making eyes at him,” said Lady Jennifer.
Just then two seats opened up right where the two girls were standing, these two seats right in the middle between Jesus over there to one side and Samson over there to the other side. At once the two women sat down, Tracy to the right and Jenny to the left.
Lady Jenny dared to look upon God. How much she wanted to say, “Thank You, Lord, for all things!” He was eating manna from a golden pot. She came to wonder what manna must taste like.
Meanwhile Lady Tracy asked, “Samson, could you pass the coffee yogurt?”
And Samson said to her, “I sure can, young lady.” He did so and asked, “What’s your name?”
And Lady Tracy introduced herself to Samson. And the two started flirting with each other in conversation.
Lady Jenny then looked around at the saints of the world who were privileged to eat here with God. She knew that saved people in the Bible and saved people not in the Bible were all here at this marriage supper of the Lamb. And right across this table where she was sitting were two men with little hardcover books open before them upon the table. What kind of books would a saint bring to a dinner table such as this? Then these two men shut their books, and Lady Jenny could read the covers.
The one book of the one man was entitled “The Psalter,” And underneath that title was the author’s name, “David, as written by the Holy Ghost.” “The Psalter,” as Lady Jenny knew, was another name
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for the book of Psalms that was in the Bible. This man with this book at the table of this great feast was surely King David himself, the “sweet psalmist of Israel.” As for the other man with him, he had two very little books in front of him. The one was entitled “The First Epistle of Peter,” and the other was entitled “The Second Epistle of Peter.” And the author’s name underneath the titles on both books read, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” These two little books were the books of I Peter and II Peter in the New Testament. Why, this man was the Apostle Peter. David and Peter were Lady Jenny’s two favorite people in the Bible who were not Jesus. She greatly admired these two men as heroes of the faith.
Lady Tracy asked, “Samson, would you pass the cherries?”
“These are sour cherries, Tracy,” said Samson.
“If those cherries are tart red cherries, they are the ones I want,” said Tracy.
“They are indeed tart red cherries,” said Samson, and he passed her the bowl of cherries.
“These are the ones I want, Samson,” flirted Lady Tracy. And she cocked her head coquettishly to the side at him. And he smiled at her in fondness.
Lady Jennifer asked, “Peter, would you pass that casserole over here?”
Peter said “This one, kind maiden?”
“It looks like the kind of casserole I love to eat back home,” said Lady Jenny.
Peter said, “It has veal and kluski noodles and corn and a golden sauce, good maiden.”
“Yes!” said Lady Jenny, elated. “That’s the one. My grandma and my mom make it for us kids all the time.” And Peter passed her the dish. “Someday I will have to learn to make it for myself.”
Peter then asked Lady Jenny, “Would you pass the sunflower nuts?”
Lady Jenny did so, and she said. “Such small nuts, and yet such delicious nuts.”
“They are my favorites,” said Peter.
“My brother loves the sunflower seeds,” said Lady Jenny.
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“One has to crack open the sunflower seeds to get at the sunflower nuts,” said Peter.
“I read lots about you in the four Gospels and in the book of Acts in the Bible, Peter,” said Lady Jenny.
“You know about the things I did back then,” said Peter in self-doubts.
“Your faith was the greatest faith among the Apostles,” said Lady Jenny.
“It was more like carnal self-confidence some of those times,” said Peter. “And it got me into trouble.”
“Yeah, but you were the only one of the Apostles who had enough faith to walk on the water, Peter.”
“Well, my Lord did say to me there, “Come,’” said Peter humbly.
Just then Tracy said, “Samson, would you pass the chocolate bars?”
And Samson asked, “The milk chocolate bars or the dark chocolate bars, Tracy?”
“Both, cute Samson,” said Lady Tracy. And he passed her both, making sure his hands ran across her hands as he did so.
Samson then asked, “Tracy, would you pass the rolls and the butter?” And she did so, returning the romance with her hand passing across his hand.
Lady Jennifer then asked, “David, would you pass the blueberries?”
And David passed her the blueberries, and he said to her, “Would you pass the chocolate pudding?” And she passed him the chocolate pudding.
Lady Jenny then said, “David, right after I got saved, the first book I read completely in the Bible was the book of Psalms. I fell in love with it right away.”
“My God has delivered me from evil over and over again.” said King David the message of many of the Psalms that he had written in this Old Testament book.
“I read all about you in the book of I Samuel and the book of II Samuel,” said Lady Jennifer.
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“Ah, good maiden, the good things I did and the not-so-good things I did,” said David.
“Great was your faith in defeating the giant Goliath,” praised Lady Jennifer.
“I just knew that God was bigger than Goliath, my kind maiden,” said King David.
“When I first read that in the Bible, I was sitting too close to the Fox River, and a wave washed ashore and did splash both me and my Holy Bible,” said Jenny Jubilee with a laugh. And David laughed with her. Jenny then said, “I should have been more careful with the Good Book.”
And David said, “I should have been more careful with the ark of the covenant.” And she laughed with him.
Then Lady Jenny turned back to God. He was looking at her, and He had a smile of compassion in His eyes. She could not turn away from Jesus now. And He picked up His golden pot of manna, got to His feet, and began to walk right toward her. Was Almighty Christ coming up to her to talk with her? Woe, there were no empty chairs around anywhere at this section of the table. Where would the Lord sit? And then He was right there in front of her in His mercy and in His grace. Indeed Lady Jenny was so captivated that she did not think to fall down in worship before Him. Then she heard Lady Tracy say, “Samson, would you like to go out with me right now?”
And Samson said, “Tracy, right now would be very good with me to go out with you..” And Samson and Tracy got up from the table and left the marriage supper of the Lamb. And just like that these two seats opened up for Jesus, one of them immediately to Lady Jenny’s right, which was where Lady Tracy had been sitting. And Jesus sat down right there, right next to the spellbound Lady Jennifer Jubilee..
Loosing her tongue before the Good Lord, Lady Jenny said, “I thank You for everything, O Jesus!”
The Saviour then spoke with the voice as of many waters, “Great is your faith, O good and godly Jenny…indeed the faith like unto My Apostle Peter and the faith like unto My King David.”
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“My Lord, how can such be?” asked Lady Jenny.
“Good daughter,” answered Jesus. “you have refused unsaved suitors, and you have waited patiently for a saved suitor—even if no man were to ever come for you. Great is your faithfulness unto Me, O Miss Jubilee. In your lonesome life’s most lonely moment, you have turned away Sir Proffery. Behold I do bring unto you Sir Flanders. Do wait upon Me a little longer, and he will come.”
“Thank You for my Griffin Keeper boyfriend, O Lord Jesus,” sang out Lady Jenny in ardor.
“Lady Jenny, would you like to eat manna with Me?” asked Jesus.
“Ooo! I surely would, O God!” said Lady Jennifer in joy of the Lord.
God reached out his golden pot of manna toward her. She reached out her fingers to this manna. And she put some of this manna in her mouth. Indeed was it tasty as angels’ food. It was bread from Heaven. It tasted sweet. It was a little like fresh oil. And it was a lot like coriander seed.”
Again Lady Jenny said, “Thank You for all things, O Jesus!”
“Bless you, My good and faithful daughter,” said the Saviour.
Suddenly Lady Jenny found herself right before good Journeyman. And she saw Tracy alone with her and her donkey out here. The dream was ended. And they were back outside of this theme park.
“That vision is my new favorite, Trace!’” said Lady Jenny.
“I liked that one the best, too!” said Lady Tracy.
“I ate with Christ the Lord!” sang out Lady Jennifer.
“And I had a date with Samson!” exclaimed Lady Tracy.
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CHAPTER X
“Master,” said one of the griffins up here in the sky, “what town is that down there?”
“I believe that it is the town of Crivitz,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“We must be well into Marinette County,” said another griffin.
“That we are,” said the Griffin Keeper. “We are by now in the southern part of Marinette County.”
“I am hungry and thirsty all of a sudden,” called out one of the griffins.
“How come?” asked Sir Flanders. “We all feasted on venison and fresh creek water before we left today.”
“Master, I am hungry and thirsty now real bad, too,” said another griffin.
“And I as well,” called forth a third griffin.
“Between the thirteen of us we devoured a whole doe for breakfast today, and then we went to the creek and practically drank it dry, if I may exaggerate,” said Sir Nickels. “I am not hungry and thirsty.”
But then all of the rest of the griffins also went and attested to their strange sudden hunger and thirst. And the Griffin Keeper sensed red flags to this odd turn of events. “Let us light now on the
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outskirts of this Crivitz, and I must think upon these things. Something is not right here.”
The griffin family descended back to the ground in the countryside. “Master,” said Field Martial, “I sense concern in your words.”
“I must have a quick private prayer now with God,” said Sir Nickels, running behind a tree and bowing his head to talk to God.
And then he came out from behind the tree, his words of prayer done and steadfastness upon his countenance.
One of the griffins then said, “I feel worse now. I could even throw up.”
Another griffin then said, “I feel worse, too, and my head is dizzy now.”
And a third griffin did say, “I am sicker, too, and my muscles are weak.”
At once the Griffin Keeper commanded, “Battle stations!” Surprised, but ever-ready, the twelve griffins awaited their master’s orders, their hearts ready for battle.
Sir Nickels began to mass his troops: “Troop, Bulwark, Cavalry, Centurion, Brigade, Fortress, Infantry, Galleon, go out and scout the countryside among the trees and the bushes and the tall grass at once! Each of you fan out from where I stand in forty-five degree angles one from another. Do so on the land and not in the air. Go straight out, not straying to the left or to the right. And go no farther than five hundred yards from here. There is something out there that causes your master concern. I cannot tell you now what it is. But when you see it, you shall know it. And when one of you eight griffins do see the thing that causes me concern, do not go after it. Instead give a warning to the other seven by saying, “Alert! Alert1” And when you other seven hear the warning, do go with utmost Godspeed and join that griffin. Then when you eight are appropriately massed as a phalanx, go after the thing that causes me concern. Charge it. Make it retreat. Drive it back to me. Do you griffins understand your mission?”
“We do, Master,” said the eight griffins.
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“Execute my battle commands, good griffins!” ordered the Griffin Keeper. And the scouting party of eight at once ran out on foot to do their duty.
Then the Griffin Keeper turned to the inner circle of his griffins, and he commanded them, “Captain of the Guard, Sergeant of Arms, Chief of Staff, ascend into the skies fifty yards above where I stand and do hover there in the air and look down upon this spot. You are to mass yourselves as the three vertices of an equilateral triangle, placing yourselves fifty yards one from another. There are two together out there who do cause your master concern, and they are never apart one from another. When you see them, you will know them as I know them. And when you see them charging toward me, then you must dive down in the air and assault them from above and break them apart. Do you mighty griffins understand?”
“We do, Master,” said the three great griffins.
“Execute my commands,” said the Griffin Keeper. And at once the three watchmen of the griffins ascended up into the air.
“And what would you have me do, O my master?” asked Field Martial.
“Best friend,” said Sir Flanders in great seriousness, “for you I have the most dangerous military task of this battle.”
“Tell your servant what it is, and your servant will do it,” said Field Martial.
With a sigh, the Griffin Keeper said, “I would have you to stand between me and the two who cause me concern as they assault in their fierce charge. I need you to block me from them so that I can get a clean shot at them with my LongSpear, O most faithful Field Martial.”
“I would give my life for you, my best friend,” said Field Martial.
“And I, you, Best Friend,” said Sir Flanders.
“Do I know who may be these two who cause you concern?” asked Field Martial.
“I think that you do, Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper.
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And Field Martial said, “It is the rider on the black unicorn and his black unicorn.”
“Right you are, wise confidant,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Ah,” said the griffin of griffins, “Famine and Drought comes riding his behemoth unicorn.”
“The unicornman Famine and Drought, bringing hunger and thirst wherever he goes,” said Sir Flanders.
“And his equine the biggest unicorn of creation,” said Field Martial.
“And they both are out there very near,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Master, my stomach groans with hunger and my mouth is parched with thirst, and my head hurts very much. I am not at this moment worthy to be your protector,” said Field Martial.
“Good friend, we do not have a long time to find them and to vanquish them,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“We have but a short time. Don’t we?” asked Field Martial.
“With his pair of balances, Famine and Death can strike down anyone dead after but a brief period of terminal sickness.” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Master, am I not the world’s biggest griffin?” asked Field Martial.
“That you are, dear griffin,” said Sir Flanders.
“I shall execute your order,” said the sick formidable griffin. “I shall stand before you and shield you from the rider and from his unicorn.”
“God bless you forevermore, dear Field Martial,” cried out this greatest griffin’s greatest friend.
And Field Martial massed himself before his master in the open field.
Meanwhile, five hundred yards away, under a weeping willow tree, sat a personage dressed in black, sitting upon a great black unicorn. He was holding out in front of him in his right hand a pair of balances and admiring them for their work. In one of the dishes of this balance scale was a black stone engraved with his name in white letters, “Famine and Drought.” This dish with this one stone was
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lower than the other dish. And in the other dish of this pair of balances were twelve white stones engraved with the names of the twelve griffins whom he was attacking this day, each name engraved in black letters. This dish with the twelve stones was higher than the other dish. By way of demonic magic, this rider on the black unicorn had thus sought to strike sick unto imminent death the Griffin Keeper’s twelve famous and valiant griffins. He also had a white stone with the name “Flanders Nickels” on it inscribed in black letters waiting for him in his black unicorn’s saddlebags. After his “battle” with the griffins would end with this balance scale, then he would begin his “battle” with Flanders Nickels on this balance scale. All he needed to do then would be to toss aside the twelve used stones and put in the one unused stone, and then the Griffin Keeper would be sick unto death.
Just then the Griffin Keeper heard from not far away one of his eight scouts give warning, uttering, “Alert! Alert!”
“Our part in the battle is imminent, Master,” said Field Martial.
“My LongSpear is ready,” said the Griffin Keeper.
Very soon after, the Griffin Keeper and his chief of griffins saw the infamous rider on the black unicorn and his black unicorn come racing out of the woods and into this open field. Sir Flanders did not yet see the eight griffins who had chased rider and unicorn out here. But the Griffin Keeper did see his inner circle coming down from the skies and zeroing in unto unicorn and rider with power and determination. Captain of the Guard struck first, only to be knocked down on his side by the black unicorn’s shoulder. Chief of Staff struck second, only to be knocked upon his head by the side of the unicorn horn. And Sergeant of Arms struck third, only to be knocked upon his lion’s bottom by a blow from the unicorn’s front hoof. And still not one stone fell out of the rider’s balance scales despite all of this skirmish. Then the eight scouts came out onto the field of battle. But they stood there, too weak and too sick from the rider’s spells to continue the battle. And the three sentinels knocked down by the black unicorn were greatly dazed where they had fallen and were very sick themselves from Famine
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and Drought’s stones.
And then Field Martial himself said, “Master, I feel faint. Am I going to pass out?” But this best griffin friend and ally continued standing his ground between his master and his two foes.
Then the rider on the black unicorn resumed his charge on his black unicorn toward the Griffin Keeper. “Come and get me, you dirty rotten devils!” cried out valiant Field Martial.
“Steady as she goes, Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper, his LongSpear raised and ready for its throw. “I will get him right in his heart.”
“Nay, my master, get him in the balance scale!” spoke up the chief griffin.
And the two assaulting demons were coming right in unto the master and his griffin, the unicorn horn zeroing in upon Field Martial where he stood..
And Flanders Nickels threw his LongSpear right in toward the pair of balances in the rider’s both hands.
The LongSpear hit its mark. The rider gave out a gasp. Behold, the pair of balances falling out of Famine and Drought’s hands and spilling out everywhere and falling down to the ground in broken pieces! “Halt!” gave out the rider battle commands to his black unicorn. And the deadly attack halted at once. The unicorn horn did not slay the griffin of good. At once the rider dismounted his black unicorn and began to pick up the pieces of his broken balance scale and to put them into his black unicorn’s saddlebags. Sir Flanders’s spear lay upon the ground just beyond the two demons. The black unicorn stood his ground between the Griffin Keeper and the LongSpear. And very quickly the remnant’s of Famine and Drought’s pair of balances were put away into the saddlebags.
Then Field Martial said, “Why, Master, I am feeling better now.”
Lo, the three sentries got back to their feet, and they said, “I think that I am getting well now. Master.”
And the eight other griffins were now standing sure and strong now once again.
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The twelve stones were no longer in the dish.
Sir Flanders then gave more battle commands, “Sentries, lift up the black unicorn off the ground and drop him to his death. You take out the lesser demon, and I will take out the greater demon.”
And Captain of the Guard and Sergeant of Arms and Chief of Staff lifted up into the air and did grab a hold on the fearsome black unicorn on his back with six eagle claws and six lion paws. He flailed about with his unicorn horn as they were doing this, but he could not reach them up there with his horn. And he was lifted up off of the ground. And he began to be carried up into the skies at great exertion of three strong griffins. He continued swinging his unicorn horn about, but he could not get at them with it. And he now was kicking out his legs only to strike air. Thirty feet. Fifty feet. One hundred feet. And the griffins were becoming weary with the great weight they were carrying. Then they let go of the black unicorn. They looked down and saw him fall one hundred feet to certain death.
The black unicorn hit the ground with a quake. And he lay there. Then he got back up. He shook his head. He examined his unicorn form for any wounds. He whinnied. He was okay! And he began to run back toward his rider.
As for the rider of the black unicorn, he was now surrounded by a host of hostile griffins of God. Not knowing what to do, he put himself between Sir Flanders and Sir Flanders’s LongSpear. “Get out of my way, demon of famine and drought,” commanded the Griffin Keeper.
“Sir Flanders,” said the demon rider, “this day you shall not kill me with your LongSpear.”
“I can still kill you with my griffins,” said the griffins’ master.
“Neither shall you kill me this day with your griffins,” said the rider of the black unicorn.
“My griffins are well now despite your attack,” said Sir Flanders. “And you are on the verge of becoming most unwell.”
“Behold my unicorn of unicorns coming to rescue me,” declared Famine and Drought.
The thirteen turned to look. Behold, a unicorn with the force of thunder coming toward them
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with the speed of lightning. And the black unicorn juggernaut came right in upon them in the midst without stopping or slowing down. For the sake of their welfare, the soldiers of God instinctively ran off to the side to avoid getting trampled. And the black unicorn fleetly sped on through the open way.
And as the black unicorn raced by, the rider of the black unicorn leaped up and adroitly landed upon the back of the galloping unicorn, and the unicorn continued his gallop unabated. And Famine and Drought got away.
“We have won the battle,” said Sir Flanders to his troops.
“Look at that demon running for his life,” said one griffin.
“A griffin does not get to see two such as them fleeing a battle,” said another griffin.
“That has never happened before,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Nor has the rider ever had his balance scales knocked out of his hands like that before,” said Field Martial. Sir Flanders came back to his LongSpear and picked it up and proudly held it up in the air before his griffins in a show of boast.
And the Griffin Keeper said, “Nor has any Christian soldier broken up that great balance scale before, guys, as I did today.”
“It is broken, Master,” said one of his griffins. “He can no longer serve the Devil as the third unicorn man of the apocalypse.”
“Nay, brother,” said Field Martial. “The rider of the black unicorn simply has to fix it back up as good as new, and he knows how to do that.”
“Alas, we are not done yet,” said another griffin.
“God is not done yet,” corrected Field Martial.
“Nor am I,” said Sir Flanders.
One of the griffins then asked, “What can keep the rider Famine and Drought from striking us down where we are anywhere from anywhere next time?
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And the Holy Spirit told them in their minds, “That demon with the balance scales can work his evil only from nearby and never from afar.”
And the twelve were comforted in the Lord.
“Let us say, ‘Amen,’” said Sir Flanders.
And the griffins said, “Amen.”
“Let us rest now from the work of battle,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Amen.” And they rested.
After a while a seagull from God came flying up to Sir Flanders. Of course, an index card written by the Lord was in its beak. Sir Flanders gratefully took the note, said, “Thank you,” and read it in silence. It read the following;
“Lady Jennifer J. Jubilee
777 South Good Hope Road
De Pere, WI 54115”
“What does God say, Master?” asked one of the griffins.
Sir Flanders then read it out loud unto his friends.
“It sounds like an address,” said another of the griffins.
“That’s she! This is the girl, O Master!” called forth Field Martial.
In reverie, Sir Flanders said, “My ‘Fair Lady Guinevere’ is a ‘Lady Jenny.’”
Another griffin said, “I know about De Pere. It is just south of Green Bay.”
Another griffin said, “De Pere is in Brown County.”
Flanders Nickels said, “Brown County is only two counties away from here.” Then the seagull flew away. “Thank you, good seagull,” said Sir Flanders. “Thank You, Good God.” said Sir Flanders, looking up to Heaven.
“What hinders us from resuming our journey, Master?” called out many of the griffins.
“Let us resume our journey for the woman,” said the Griffin Keeper. And they lifted up into the sky again and resumed flying south.
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After a while, Sir Flanders said to Field Martial whom he was riding, “What does a guy like me do with a gal like her?”
“What is it that you always wanted to do but never could before?” asked Field Martial.
“Fun innocent romance stuff that a boyfriend and girlfriend can do best,” said Sir Flanders.
“What kinds of things are those?” asked Field Martial.
“That I do know,” said Sir Flanders. “Once Lady Jennifer becomes my girlfriend, I will give her a piggyback ride for fifty miles.”
“Then what?” asked Field Martial.
“Then I will give her a horsey-back for a mile,” said Sir Flanders.
“Would you have her to do the same for you?” asked Field Martial.
“Oh, of course. Herself, being a woman, she could give me a piggyback ride for a mile and then a horsey-back ride for a couple blocks,” said Sir Flanders.
“A young man can carry a young woman farther than a young woman can carry a young man,” said his best griffin friend.
“Indeed the honor would be mine,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“This romance stuff is incomprehensible to us griffins,” said Field Martial.
“It is to angels as well,” said Sir Flanders.
“Is that a loss for me, Master?” asked the great griffin.
“It is a gain for me, Field Martial,” said Sir Flanders.
“What if a man never finds romance in his life?” asked Field Martial.
“Without a pretty girlfriend at his side, a guy will never find how good that sweet magic of romance is,” said Sir Flanders.
“Does every guy and every gal get to find this magic of romance?” asked Field Martial.
“No,” said Sir Flanders. “Some men I knew went out of their way to avoid this magic of
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romance for all the wrong reasons, and they lived to regret it ever since.”
“That sounds sad for them, my master.” said Field Martial.
“They both missed out on the one thing that Earth has that Heaven has not,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Do tell me about them, O Master,” said the griffin best friend.
“The first one was my cousin Regalroyal,” said Sir Flanders. “He went to college. And he became utterly all consumed with getting straight ‘A’s.’ He desired to end his college years with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. So he studied. He studied in the mornings and in the afternoons and in the evenings and in the nights, studying even through breakfast and lunch and dinner. He was the most prepared student of all college for the semester exams. He aced every single semester exam he ever took in his four years of college. As for girls, he was too busy in his college years preparing for his career to think about them. His classes were everything to him; girlfriends were foolishness that lesser students than himself might get involved with. He went to college to study, not to date. And he steadfastly avoided any who could become a girlfriend in all his days. And then he got his college diploma. He earned the Dean’s List all eight semesters he was there. He did indeed graduate summa cum laude. And now he is the most successful alumnus of his college.” Sir Flanders paused, then said, “Now he regrets all of it. He looks back at those four years and regrets all of his hard work. He wishes now with sorrow that he had pursued a pretty young woman to be at his side in those four years. He looks back now and cannot remember much about all of those exams that he had so excelled in. If he had had a pretty woman as girlfriend in college, her he would have remembered and would have been glad in sweet memories of her ever since. As he told me later, ‘Flanders, a guy cannot hug a textbook, and a guy cannot kiss a report card, and still find happiness.’ As you can tell, Regalroyal was lonely in college, and he is lonesome now. How he wishes to have had a girlfriend in college. But now it is too late. Now his career keeps him from dating. He has no more hope, O Field Martial.”
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“Could God help him, Master?” asked Field Martial.
“What Regalroyal really needs for this life and for the life to come is to ask Jesus to become his personal Saviour,” said Sir Flanders. “Jesus is every man’s greatest need. Only Christ can fill the void in a person’s heart. As much as Regalroyal needed a girlfriend in college to discover sweet magic of romance, he needed God all the mote—then and now—to find so needful redemption of his lost soul,”
“Then you are saying, Master, that it is better to find the Saviour and to never find the girl than it is to find the girl and to never find the Saviour,” said Field Martial.
“No girlfriend ever died for a man’s sins as Jesus did,” said Sir Flanders. “First in life must come the Spanish proverb ‘Vaya con Dios.’ Second in life must come the French proverb, ‘Cherchez
la femme.’”
“Who was the other man who stayed away from magic of romance, Master?” asked Field Martial.
“My classmate Laud,” said Sir Flanders. “He was my good friend in high school.”
“How come he stayed away from girls?” asked Field Martial.
“Because he became sick with schizophrenia, and he truly believed that liking girls was morally corrupt, O Field Marital,” replied Sir Flanders. “And he had a seventeen-year- old boy’s attraction for high school girls. But when he was stricken with schizophrenia and came to believe what he did about the opposite gender in his straight desires, he began to fight his desires with the strength and determination of a grown-up with resolve and determination and persistence. He sought to take away all of his thoughts and actions and glances at all girls. Boys, of course, could not interest him that way.
He was quite most heterosexual. But the words ‘sex,’ ‘sexy’ and ‘sexual’ he deemed at bad as curse words. On his seventeenth birthday, with his family at the table, his birthday cake before him and the candles lit and ready for him to blow out, they all told him, ‘Make a wish.’ And his secret wish was that he never have a girlfriend come into his life. And he truly felt in the sincerity of his schizophrenic
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mind, that if he ever gave in and had a first date or a first girlfriend, that then he would have lost the fight he was fighting in his life. If he were to live the whole rest of his life without ever having a first date or a first girlfriend, then he would be victorious in his fight in his life. Laud did not want to lose that battle. He was ashamed that he liked girls that way. And he was too proud to tell anyone that he liked girls that way. Romance and flirting and kissing and hugging was not something that he would ever do. He summarized all that in one world–’corruption.’ One day when he was eighteen he discovered the girl Mary. Never had a girl dressed as classy and snazzy as she! She had on a solid blue long sleeved cotton shirt and a dazzling vest and blue jeans and sneakers. He saw the back of her as she stood in French class, and he was overwhelmed with her outfit and with her form. And when she turned around he saw in her the prettiest girl in high school. Now his battle was very hard. In his private thoughts he daydreamed about this girl walking through his parents’ back porch and into the house and then him introducing this girl to Mom and Dad; and Mom and Dad, to this girl. Never before was Laud ‘in so great danger.’ He rallied. He fought. He prevailed. And he did not ask her out. And the girl got away. He won the war,” said Sir Flanders.
“How does Laud feel now, Master?” asked Field Martial. “Did he ever change his mind about the girl? Did he ever change his mind about all girls?”
“He did indeed, Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper. “He is being treated now at the psychiatric clinic. He is now not afraid to tell others about the women he likes. He regrets letting Mary get away. He regrets fighting all girls in his head. And he regrets having been such a soldier against himself all through high school.”
“I am sorrowful for him,” said Field Martial.
“Needless to say, despite my desires and all of my prayers, with my lot in this time of tribulation on this earth as a born-again believer, I was worried that I might find the kind of regret that Regalroyal and Laud had brought upon themselves,” said Sir Flanders.
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“You have a prayer-answering Heavenly Father that neither Regalroyal nor Laud had, Master,” said Field Martial.
“My God takes great care of me, Field Martial.” said Sir Flanders. “Now I have a Jenny Jubilee
somewhere out there waiting for me to become my special girlfriend-in-the-Lord.”
“Romance must be very important to you, Master,” said the griffin friend of friends.
“Second only to worship of my Saviour,” said Sir Flanders.
“Go with God,” said Field Martial, “as the Spanish say.”
“Find the woman,” said the Griffin Keeper, “as the French say.”
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CHAPTER XI
Lady Jenny J. Jubilee was riding Journeyman alone on her way to the Shawano County Theme Park. “Tracy couldn’t make it out with us today, good boy,” she said to her donkey. “She’s on another date with another guy today.” With a sigh, Jennifer Jubilee said, “Such a lucky gal to have a date.” She sighed again and said, “But my day is coming real soon, O Journeyman. My own special guy is coming down to sweep me off my feet. He’s coming from Upper Michigan. And he will fall for me as I have him.” Then she said, “We can have a little hug and a little kiss and a little romance.” To this the donkey gave forth a “hee-haw,” as if he could understand people language. She did a double-take, but went on to explain, “Shush, silly Journeyman. I don’t mean doing bad things. I will never be like Tracy.” And the donkey brayed not again to this. Falling upon prayer as the good donkey ambled along, Lady Jenny said to God, “His name is ‘Heck.’ That’s the name of Tracy’s boyfriend of the day. Heck! And that is exactly where he is going to go unless he gets saved. And down there is exactly where dear Tracy is also going unless she also gets saved, O Lord. I prayed for Heck’s soul earlier for my first time today. I prayed for Tracy’s soul every day since I got saved. Please saved them both—but especially Tracy, O lord.”
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Then they arrived. The big overhead wooden arch read, “Shawano County Theme Park.” And the little wooden sign to the right read, “’The blessing of the Lord makes one rich. And He adds no sorrow with it.’ Proverbs 10:22.” At once Lady Jennifer said, “That verse does not sound like it should sound, Journeyman. It feels all wrong to me. It sounds positively plain.” Then she said, “Why, that’s not a King James Version Bible verse at all! It’s from another Bible! I never saw anything like this in any of God’s theme parks before. I know how it is supposed to go. I memorized it. It goes like this: “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it.” Then she said, “Something is all wrong here.” Then she said, “But what can be a more relevant vision today with this verse than my becoming Fair Lady Guinevere? Such a blessing would be rich indeed and without any sorrow at all. I just get to find out what it is like in a dream before Flanders actually comes for real.”
And without another word, Lady Jennifer leaped off of her good donkey and ran right up to and through the gate into Shawano County Theme Park. And she was instantly in the vision. Behold, Journeyman himself was with her in a world of mists and fogs. She was riding him. How kind of God to let him come in with her like this. Knowing that donkeys could not speak, Lady Jenny still rhetorically asked him in a silly tone, “Where do you think that we might be going, Journeyman?”
Btu good Journeyman did speak, and he said to her, “I am taking you to a place, my mistress.”
“Journeyman, you can talk!” called forth Jennifer Jubilee in elation.
“But only in this dream, O Mistress,” he told her.
“So you are taking me to a place,” she said. “Where, may I ask?”
“To a destination, Mistress,” said the talking donkey.
“You are keeping secrets from your mistress,” said Lady Jenny.
“That I am,” he teased her.
“Journeyman,” she teased right back, “you are a bad, bad boy for doing that,”
‘”I know,” he said, and he gave a donkey laugh.
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“Does your faithful mistress at least get to have a hint?” requested Lady Jenny in gaiety.
“I can give you a hint, Mistress,” he told her. Yet he did not say anything.
“You’ve got to give me my hint now, Journeyman,” said Lady Jenny.
And he confided and said, “You will know it when you see it, my mistress,”
“I will know it when I see it,” she said.
“Uh huh,” assented the donkey. “And you shall fall in love with it.”
“You make it sound more like a thing than a place,”she surmised out loud.
“It it both,” he said. “it is a thing inside of a place. But the place you will not fall in love with, and the thing you will fall in love with.”
“Is it something that God will let me bring back out of the theme park into the real world?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“God does not work that way with his theme parks, Mistress,” said Journeyman.
“Animal, vegetable, or mineral?” she asked the talking donkey.
“Mineral, I would think,” said the donkey.
“Is it bigger than a breadbox?” she asked.
“I am not sure how big a breadbox may be, Mistress, but if a breadbox is for one loaf of bread, it is not bigger than a breadbox,” said the donkey.
“Is it likely to be used equally by men and women?” asked Lady Jennifer.
At once the donkey gave forth a most mirthful laugh, and he said, “Nay, O Mistress.”
“What color is it?” she asked.
“That is a cheat question,” he told her. “The questions must all be ‘yes-or-no’ questions.”
“What else can you tell me about my wonderful surprise waiting up ahead for me in this dream?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“That is another cheat question,” he told her.
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“Twenty Questions is a difficult game with you, Journeyman,” said Jenny J. Jubilee.
“It is a difficult game for both the guesser and the answerer, O Mistress,” said Journeyman, laughing heartily through his nose.
“I shall become silent and talk no more and wait till I get there and see it,” promised Lady Jenny.
“You young women are most inquisitive,” said the donkey. She nodded her head and stayed mute according to her promise.
And as she rode in these fogs and mists, Lady Jennifer pondered in her thoughts what it could be. It did not sound like she was meeting a first boyfriend on a first date, as she had assumed when she ran through the gates after having read the Bible verse. It must be something else. It must be something new. It must be something that she had never thought about before. And it must be irresistible. And it must be something that would change the way she thought even after coming out of this theme park.
Then loyal Journeyman stopped his ambling, and he said, “We are there, Mistress.”
“We are?” she asked. “All I see still is thick fog.”
“The thick fog is about to lift,” said the donkey. And the fog began to lift, and, lo, a most quaint little wooden building outside in the middle of nowhere that was nowhere near the size of even one regular room.
“Journeyman, do I see an outhouse?” asked the young woman.
“Nay, my mistress,” he said to her. “You see a closet.”
“A closet without a bedroom!” she exclaimed.
“Aye, Mistress,” he answered her.
“A little closet all by itself?” she asked.
“Nothing should surprise a regular like yourself at theme parks, O Mistress,” said Journeyman.
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“What kind of closet is it?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“What kinds of closets are most closets?” asked Journeyman.
“It looks like a clothes closet,” she said.
“That is is, Mistress,” said the donkey.
“What’s in it?” she asked. He cocked his donkey head to the side at her in goofiness. Of course. There had to be clothes in this clothes closet. Then she asked, “Are there women’s clothes in this closet?”
Then he said, “There is one garment in this closet. It is a women’s garment. And it is just for you, my mistress.”
“This women’s garment, then, is about which we were playing twenty questions, Journeyman,” said Lady Jennifer. “This is my surprise from God in this vision of this Shawano County Theme Park. It can be classified as mineral, and it is smaller than a breadbox, and it is not equally used by men and women.”
“You will desire it even more than ever you desired your cowgirl outfit, O Mistress,” said Journeyman.
“You mean that?” asked Lady Jenny, dressed in this same cowgirl outfit even now once again. “You would not kid your mistress about something like that. Would you, O Journeyman?”
“Go into the closet. Take a look. Put it on. Look at yourself in the mirror. And come out in it and tell me that I was wrong,” said Journeyman.
“A girl cannot keep her donkey waiting,” said Lady Jennifer, leaping off of Journeyman and running up to the little closet.
“A girl cannot keep herself waiting, O Mistress,” called out the donkey his mistress’s true feelings.
Upon the door of this strange closet of this strange dream was a large wooden sign that read the
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following: “’Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.’ Proverbs 13:12.” This was surely a Bible verse in a great place. But it was not a true Bible verse. Again in this theme park was a Scripture verse that was not a King James Version verse. Lady Jenny knew that this good verse really went like this, instead: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” Yet instead she called back to Journeyman about the mystery garment that she just had to have on, “Tree of life, come to me!” And she pulled open the door and looked in in a frenzy of passion. And there it was, hanging upon a lone hanger on a lone rod in a lone closet.
It was a women’s solid white one-piece swimsuit.
Seeking privacy even in front of her donkey, Lady Jenny closed the closet door behind her, leaving herself alone with this bewitching white maillot. It had shoulder straps. It had a V-Neck. It had a tan liner within along the front. It had a tan liner within along the back. It had molded tan cups. It had a tan band running across just beneath the cups. It had a tan crotch liner. It had a hygienic liner down there that had to be removed before use. It had a high back. It had a high leg cut. And its sensual white fabric shone in a most beckoning luster. Inside were three tags sewn in the right side of the swimsuit just below the cup. One read, “Size 10.” One read “Made by the American Union of Ladies Garment Manufacturers.” And one read, “Made of 50% Antron Nylon and 50% Lycra Spandex.” Without a word of prayer, she then reached into this maillot and peeled off the hygienic liner and tossed it upon the floor. And then came the time. Now came her time. And she stripped herself of her old beloved cowgirl outfit piece by piece and put on herself her new one-piece swimsuit in its only piece. And she gazed in the mirror upon her white one-piece swimsuit that now covered her female form. And she felt most comfortably aroused feeling it upon herself. It was like a hug all the way down to her hormones. Her senses were stimulated in new ways.
Lady Jennifer Joy Jubilee had never had a swimming suit on before.
And she opened the door, most unashamedly presented herself before her good donkey, and she
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said, “Behold Sir Flanders’s future one-piece swimsuit goddess!”
“Sexy girl!” called out Journeyman, not understanding what he was saying, himself being a donkey.
“Sex girl!” she said.
“Naughty girl,” said the donkey.
“Let’s go back to the world and wait for Sir Flanders to come,” said Lady Jenny.
“What about your clothes, O Mistress?” called back Journeyman, turning toward her old favorite and proper cowgirl apparel.
“I’ve got my clothes on now, donkey,” rebuked Lady Jenny.
“You’ll never get out of here with that on, Mistress,” said Journeyman.
“We’ll just see about that,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Even I had not expected this much change in you from one white one-piece swimsuit, my mistress,” said the donkey.
“This feels too good to take off ever again for the rest of my life on earth,” declared the young women in her brand new white maillot.
As the swimsuit girl, Lady Tracy mounted her talking donkey, commanded “Giddy-up, boy!” and rode Journeyman quickly back to the starting spot amid the fogs and mists.
Suddenly she and he were back in the real world. She quickly looked down upon herself and discovered herself covered again in her more decent cowgirl outfit, and she cursed for her first time as a believer. Shocked, she turned to her donkey and her face became red with embarrassment. But her donkey gave no response—neither by spoken word nor by understanding look. Of course, donkeys cannot really talk. He had not really been with her in that vision after all. Just what kind of Journeyman had been with her in that vision? She came to doubt this dream with uncomfortable misgivings. In a moment of backsliding she frantically searched everywhere around where they both
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stood, herself hoping that maybe that white maillot might have fallen out of her hands here on this side of the gate. But this fetish garment was nowhere to be seen on this side of the gate. Then Lady Jenny thought to quick run back in through the gate and go and get it and then quick run back out again through this gate. But county theme parks in Wisconsin worked only one time per day for all customers. Wisconsin folklore said that people who tried to sneak in a theme park a second time on the same day were smitten of leprosy from God. The dreams from God were a gift, not a privilege to be abused with excess. Were she to sneak back in for a little bit more—even just to fetch something and bring it right back—God would strike her at once. Everybody—saved and unsaved—knew better than to try to sneak in a second time at the same theme park on the same day. God was watching. Lady Jenny would not look so good or feel so good in her idol of a garment were she to have leprosy all of a sudden. Going back in on purpose like that she would not do right now. And in a weaker moment Lady Jenny looked up to Heaven and shouted a euphemism that God heard. And for her first time, Lady Jennifer felt disappointment after a vision from God, and for her first time she left a theme park in discouragement. And she mounted the happy donkey and rode back home without hopes.
Not knowing what else to do, Lady Jenny took her Bible and started to read from the book of Romans and to have a word of prayer there in the green lawn of her front yard. But this time even the book of Romans could not satisfy her, and this time all her words of prayer were murmurings against God. She then put down her worship in rebellion. Just then Lady Tracy came home. She was alone.
And the first thing she said was, “Jen,’ you’ll never believe what Heck bought me today!”
Dolorous, Jenny asked, “What did Heck buy you today, Tracy?”
“I’ve got to show you. It’s just right for me. And it will be perfect for our next date together.”
said Tracy.
Doleful still, Lady Jennifer asked, “What is it?”
“This!” declared Lady Tracy Westwind. And she pulled out a garment from a shopping bag,
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held it up by two shoulders straps, one for each hand, and displayed it in its full whiteness before her
where she sat.
Struck speechless by this turn of events, Lady Jenny’s mouth fell open and her eyes grew big and she got to her feet.
“It’s one of those white one-piece swimsuits, Jen,’” said Tracy. “It looks like I brightened your day.”
“Trace,’ did you get that out of a dream?” asked Lady Jenny, all hopes suddenly coming back to her.
“No. Heck and I found it at the mall. I told him how much fun together he and I could have if I had this on, and he bought it for me, and he asked me out for a rendezvous tomorrow,” said Lady Tracy.
“It is desirable,” said Lady Jennifer.
“How come you were sad just a little while ago, Jen?” asked Lady Tracy. “I never saw you sad before, when you had your Bible with you.”
“I left a theme park of God unhappy, believe it or not, Tracy,” confessed Lady Jennifer.
“You were not happy after one of God’s visions?” asked Lady Tracy, “a woman of God like yourself?”
“It was unlike any other theme park’s dreams. I tell you, Trace,’” said Jennifer Jubilee.
“Oh, Jenny,” said Tracy Westwind.
“What, Tracy?” asked Lady Jenny.
“You didn’t go to Shawano County Theme Park. Did you?” asked Lady Tracy.
“Yes. That’s the one I went to today,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Oh, woman. That one is of the Devil,” said Tracy Westwind. “I go there all the time with my boyfriends. You would not believe the ideas we all get at that theme park that can make dating even all the more fun. Nothing is off-limits for me at the Shawano County Theme Park. It is the only one like
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it, and it is my very favorite theme park.”
“Oh,” said Lady Jenny in a rude awakening.
“What was a Christian girl like you doing at that theme park, Jen?’” asked Lady Tracy.
“Do you mean that the Devil is the one who makes the visions at that theme park, Tracy?” asked Lady Jenny.
“Oh yes! That is the only theme park that is not of God. God never made one vision at that theme park,” said Lady Tracy.
“I didn’t know that,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Uh oh! What did you see?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I saw a white one-piece swimsuit a lot like that one you have in your hands,” said Lady Jenny.
“No no! You’re not getting my white one-piece swimsuit, Jenny,” said Tracy Westwind. “This is mine for tomorrow with Heck.”
“Well. Okay. If you feel that way,” said Lady Jennifer.
“I’ll leave you alone with your time with God,” said Lady Tracy. “I know how you love to worship out here in the grass when you have your Bible outside like this.”
“Where are you going?” asked Lady Jenny, not yet sitting back down with God.
“I’m going to put this swimming suit on my closet hook and go out on a walk to think of things I can do on my little rendezvous tomorrow with handsome Heck,” said Tracy Westwind.
“Are you going to be out long?” asked Lady Jenny.
“Long enough for you to get good and filled up on God again as you always do out here in summer, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
“Thank you, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny. And she stood and waited for Tracy to go in and then to come back out. And then Jennifer sat back down. And she watched Tracy going away until she could see Tracy no more.
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Thinking to do good, but wanting to do bad, Lady Jenny once again picked up her Bible and resumed reading where she left off—at the beginning of Romans chapter seven. Inside of Tracy, her spirit now warred against her flesh. But she held on to the Spirit. And before long she came to verse fifteen of this chapter, and this said right to her: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” She prayed, “You’re so right, Lord.” She continued reading this chapter, and she came to verse eighteen, and that read thus right at her: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not.” She prayed again, “Right again, God.” And she continued her Bible studies. And next she came to verse nineteen, which told her point-blank: “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” She prayed in conviction, “I am wrong, Lord.” And she continued her hold on this struggling worship. And soon she came upon verse twenty-four, which clearly told her these words: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And she prayed to God, “O wretched woman that I am!” And Lady Jenny made a decision.
She shut her Holy Bible. She stood up. She turned back to see the house. She thought now not to pray. She sneaked one last look into the Bible upon that Romans chapter seven, the true story of what was raging inside of her heart right now. She discovered verse twenty-five, the last verse of this Romans 7. And she read in haste in silence on her feet and sneaking peaks at the front door, and ready to run right in. And this was what she read: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Then in great wanton passions, Lady Jenny let fall the Good Book upon the ground and ran into the house and at once came into Tracy’s closet. And there it was all for her.
She tore off her cowgirl outfit in this closet. She put on the white one-piece swimsuit in this closet in a torrid frenzy. She ran and got an empty little glass pop bottle. And she ran back to the closet. She gave one last prayer to God, saying in the truth of her heart, “Dear Father, I promise, as
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You are my Witness, that I shall never commit immorality with Sir Flanders Nickels. But I cannot promise, with the Devil as my tempter, that I shall never commit immorality with this white one-piece swimsuit.” And right after that, Jenny Jubilee went ahead and did a woman’s private business in Tracy’s closet with the pop bottle, herself dressed in Tracy’s white maillot all the while. And then she was done. And the desires left her. And she wanted this white one-piece swimsuit that way no more at all. She then took off her best friend’s swimming suit and went to the bathtub to clean it up in cold water. She then wrung it out into the tub and put it back on Tracy’s hook in her closet. And she cleaned up herself and put back on her good old cowgirl uniform.
Lady Jennifer then went back to her Holy Bible on the ground where it did not belong, and she picked it up and did turn to a familiar passage in II Samuel chapter 13: And she sat down and read to herself verses eleven to fifteen: “And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel; do not thou this folly. And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? And as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee. Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.”
And Lady Jenny now felt the very same exceeding hatred of the white maillot. Indeed the hatred wherewith she now hated it was greater than the love wherewith she had loved it. She now wanted it to arise and be gone.
Convicted by the Holy Spirit of having committed a most bizarre sin, Lady Jennifer did pray in most earnest and sincere repentance, “Dear Father, I promise in Your name, that I will never commit immorality with Tracy’s brand new white maillot again. In Jesus’s name. Amen.”
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And God forgave Lady Jennifer. And God cleansed Lady Jennifer. But God was not done with Lady Jennifer.
She had still done it. And sin reaps a harvest. And her sin was going to find her out.
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CHAPTER XII
High up in the skies, holding his LongSpear in glory in his right hand, and riding upon Field Martial’s back, the Griffin Keeper declared to his twelve griffins, “We are now entering Oconto County.”
“Master, is this not only one county away from the girl?” asked one of his griffins.
“My fair Jenny is in the very next county. Yes!” said the Griffin Keeper.
“What town is that down there not too far away, Master?” asked another griffin.
And the Griffin Keeper said, “I believe it to be Lena.”
Another griffin said, “So many little towns of people there are here in Wisconsin just south of our land.”
And another griffin said, “That’s because there are no towns in our land.”
“Just us thirteen,” said another griffin. “We griffins and our master.”
And Sir Flanders said, “Our Fifty-First State we thirteen have all to ourselves.”
“The only trespasser that we found there was that rider on his white unicorn and his white unicorn,” said one of the griffins.
“And how we chased even him away and not to dare come back,” said another of the griffins.
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“What was the final thing that sent him and his unicorn fleeing?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
Field Martial said, “I believe that it was your LongSpear that convinced antichrist to get away, O Master.”
“My LongSpear,” said the Griffin Keeper, remembering. It was himself who had made the rider on the white unicorn and his unicorn flee from battle.
Then one of the griffins said, “Together, we also prevailed over the rider on his red unicorn and his red unicorn in battle up in Florence County.”
“Yeah, we soldiers of Christ made War flee for his life.” said another griffin.
Another griffin said, “Master, your LongSpear got him!”
‘It did. Didn’t it?” asked the Griffin Keeper, remembering all about it.
“God’s LongSpear sent those two to run for their lives,” said another griffin.
“My LongSpear,” said the Griffin Keeper. “It does great things in my hands.”
“To God be another victory in battle,” said another griffin.
“I did it again,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Master, the rider on the black unicorn and his black unicorn lost to us in battle up in Marinette County,” said another griffin.
“”We sent them two running like cowards, thanks to God,” said another griffin.
“I prevailed over Famine and Death with my LongSpear,” declared the Griffin Keeper.
“That was the last thing they both saw before they fled,” said another griffin.
“Praise the Lord,” said the twelve griffins.
“Praise my LongSpear,” said Flanders.
“Praise the God Who gave you that LongSpear,” said Field Martial in good cheer.
“Praise the man who wields the LongSpear, O Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“”Master,” gently chided Field Martial, “you are not without allies in your battles against evil
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in this world of tribulation,”
Yet the Griffin Keeper went on to say< “I shall meet and defeat the rider on the pale unicorn and his pale unicorn if he dates come against me here in Oconto County.” And with this he brandished his LongSpear quite flamboyantly in both hands for great show up here in the skies.
The griffin allies looked upon first their very different master, then at each other, then straight ahead once again, without any of them saying a word.
This most uncharacteristic talk coming from the Griffin Keeper’s tongue was not induced by way of supernatural magic from a demon. No indeed. It had arisen instead from this great soldier’s carnal heart. His military success had suddenly gone to his head with this discourse about his LongSpear up here in Oconto County. And he let himself get all caught up with the pride of life.
In I Peter 3:6 this thing called “the pride of life,” was called “the condemnation of the devil.” In I John 2:16 this pride of life was said to be “not of the Father, but…of the world.” And in Proverbs chapter six a proud look was the first thing of seven things of which “the Lord hated and were an abomination unto him.”
And the griffins were ashamed and embarrassed of their keeper. And nobody said anything more.
After a while in this flight in Oconto County the Griffin Keeper demanded, “Talk to me.”
Field Martial replied and said, “You are different now with us all of a sudden, O Master.”
“You griffins suddenly think that I have changed.” challenged the Griffin Keeper. None of the thirteen dared to challenge their keeper’s authority over them with a reply.
“Captain of the Guard,” called forth Sir Flanders. “Tell me what you have on your mind about what my best friend is telling me.”
“Do you truly wish for that, Master?” called out Captain of the Guard respectfully.
“I do,” said the Griffin Keeper.
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And Captain of the Guard said, “It is written, Master, ‘Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.’ Proverbs 27:2.”
Offended, the Griffin Keeper then turned to another of his chief griffins. And he said to him, “Sergeant of Arms, do you have anything to add to our little parley up here?”
“Do you seek my advice, Master?” asked Sergeant of Arms cautiously.
“I want to hear what you are thinking about,” said the Griffin Keeper.
And Sergeant of Arms, answered, saying, “Master, it is written, ‘Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.’ I Corinthians 10:12.”
Callous now, the Griffin Keeper challenged Chief of Staff, and he said to him, “Chief of Staff, where do you stand in this collusion?”
“Do you wish again to hear what God says about this, Master?” asked Chief of Staff.
“Tell me what you have to say about this,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“My master,” began Chief of Staff in fear of his keeper, “it is written, ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.’ Proverbs 16:18.”
“Is this a mutiny?” asked Sir Flanders in a madness.
The first to reply, Field Martial, as example, quickly said to their keeper in sincerity, “No, sir.”
Taking the cue and answering also in sincerity, the eleven other griffins went on to say one-by-one, “No sir.”
And their master was appeased, but their master was not pleased. And after another long uncomfortable silence, Sir Flanders spoke up and said, “Lady Jenny awaits me up ahead. Let us arrive there in accord.”
“And the twelve mighty griffins said to their mighty Griffin Keeper, “Aye, Master.”
And they continued traveling south in Oconto County up here way above the earth. And the spirit of reconciliation came upon master and griffin. And Sir Flanders apologized, and his griffins
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forgave him. And a spirit of consent placated the previous spirit of contention. But the Griffin Keeper had not apologized to God. And full repentance he did not seek before God. And sin was not taken away from the Griffin Keeper by the Holy Spirit. Sir Flanders held on yet to his pride.
Meanwhile, Lady Jenny, still worshiping in her and Tracy’s front yard, saw Lady Tracy coming back home by herself. Tracy Westwind must not find out. And as Lady Tracy came walking up to her, Lady Jenny feared saying something that might give herself away; so Jenny chose reticence. Lady Tracy said her usual greeting when she saw Lady Jennifer with her Bible, “How’s God, Jen?’”
Lady Jennifer chose her words carefully, “He’s good.”
“Just good?” asked Lady Tracy.
“Pretty good,” said Lady Jenny.
“Usually when you’re outside like this with Jesus, you always say, ‘He’s great,’” said Lady Tracy.
“He is grand,” said Lady Jennifer.
“You don’t sound so good this time,” said Lady Tracy.
“I am grand, too,” said Lady Jenny.
“You don’t sound as grand as you say you are, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy. “I know when something is bothering you.”
“Are you going in the house now?” asked Lady Jenny.
“Yep!” said Lady Tracy. “Heck and I are going out on our rendezvous right about now. I promised him to wear that white one-piece swimsuit tonight that he bought for me.”
“Is he coming here for the date?” asked Jennifer Jubilee.
“No. I’m going to his place for the date,” said Lady Tracy.
“That is good,” said Lady Jenny.
“It is?” asked Lady Tracy. “How come?”
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“If Heck were coming to our place for your date, I would just get in the way,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Jen,’ you are never in the way with me,” said Lady Tracy. “Are you sure that you are okay?”
“I am a little distracted right now, Trace,’” said Lady Jennifer.
“I’ll go in and get into my white maillot now,” said Lady Tracy. “I want to have Heck see me in that the moment I get there. This will be my most exciting rendezvous of my life.”
“Is your new boyfriend coming to pick you up?” asked Lady Jenny.
“No. I’m going to walk there,” said Lady Tracy.
“That is good,” said Lady Jennifer.
“How come?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I don’t think that Journeyman met your new boyfriend’s horse yet,” said Lady Jenny.
“Do you think that Journeyman and Wildfire might not get along?” asked Lady Tracy.
“Journeyman loves people,” said Lady Jenny.
“We both know that Journeyman also loves horses.” said Lady Tracy.
“I have a grand donkey,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Jenny Jubilee, you are keeping secrets from your best friend,” said Lady Tracy. “I think that I need to get away from you for the rest of today and have my fun with men again. Bu this time I have a white one-piece swimsuit to make it all the more exciting for myself. Heck is a hunk and so cute.” And without any more unwanted delay from Lady Jenny. Lady Tracy went inside to go change into her white one-piece swimsuit for the night.
Out in this front yard, Jenny Jubilee awaited with dread the big explosion that would come when Tracy would see her white maillot already secretly worn.
And from out front here, Lady Jennifer heard Lady Tracy yell from the second floor of their house, “You’re dead, Jenny!”
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What could Jenny do now?
And right away after, Tracy Westwind came out of the front door, stood upon the front stoop, and shook her white swimming suit before Jenny, Tracy’s right hand holding up the garment by both shoulder straps. “My suit is all dripping wet!” yelled Tracy. “What happened to it?”
In subtle partial confession, Lady Jenny said, “I just put it on for just a moment. Trace.’”
“I can’t put this on now!” cried out Tracy. “You ruined my rendezvous!”
“I’m sorry,” said Lady Jenny in secret shame.
“Why did you go swimming in it?” asked Tracy.
In quick hasty confession, Lady Jennifer said, “Oh, but I did not go swimming in it, Tracy.”
“Then explain to me how it is that it got all wet!” demanded Lady Tracy.
“I put it on. It got a little bit dirty. And I washed it in the tub,” said Lady Jennifer.
“It got a little bit dirty,” said Lady Tracy.
“Yes,” said Jenny.
“How did it get a little bit dirty in the short time since I left and then came back?” asked Lady Tracy.
Then Lady Jenny found her tongue making most errant excuses, “But you were going to get it dirty tonight on your rendezvous.”
And instantly the lascivious Tracy Westwind knew. And she said, “Jenny, you went and gratified yourself in my nice white one-piece swimsuit.”
Thinking that all was okay now, Lady Jennifer said. “Yeah, Trace.’ I kind of went and did something like that.”
And Lady Tracy rebuked her, saying, “And you call yourself a Christian!”
Struck hard in her conscience by these six words of a lost person, Jennifer J. Jubilee forced herself into humbleness and said, “I was wrong, Tracy.”
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“Why, you are no better than I am!” exclaimed Tracy Westwind.
With this second dart, Jenny forced herself to say, “You are right, Tracy.”
“You are just as bad as I am!” hollered Lady Tracy.
With this third dart, Jenny grew silent with rage and would not talk now to her best friend.
But Lady Tracy had more to say, “At least with a one-piece swimsuit, I would at least take it off when my time comes with my guy. But you keep it on when your time comes with the one-piece swimsuit..”
Never before was Lady Jenny more angry at Lady Tracy. And despite her stormy desire for words, she found herself too beside herself to speak.
Then Tracy said her last words to her of this big fight, “I do not believe you anymore. You are a fake when it comes to Christ. You will never lead me to salvation.” And having said this, she threw this white maillot back in the face of Jennifer and stormed out of the house to tell all to Heck.
Alone now with this wicked fetish that she had made of a white one-piece swimsuit, Lady Jenny sat there and cried in remorse. And as she wept, she sobbed. Then when her crying was done, she found resolve in God. And she stood up, got a shovel from the garage, and buried this most troublesome white maillot very deep in the ground for forever. It was down there for good now, and it was beginning to rot. Woe unto her life for that visit to that last theme park!
Then she stood there, examining her heart and her soul and her deeds and her thoughts. The way she felt now in God, she was not ready to meet the Griffin Keeper.
Lady Jennifer Joy Jubilee had lost Lady Tracy Lynn Westwind’s soul.
Meanwhile, this day, the day of Flanders’s slide back and the day of Jenny’s slide back, two great and good dragons from God’s Heaven descended upon Oconto County in the countryside just outside of Abrams. The one was the Good Gray Dragon, whose name was Archangel Gabriel. The other was the Good White Dragon, whose name was Archangel Michael. They had come down upon
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the Earth to discuss the two born-again Christians of this world of tribulation. No person or creature saw these two angels descending from Heaven. No person or creature saw these two angels lighting upon the ground. No person or creature saw these two angels now standing upon this Earth. But God was in them and in their words to each other.
The Good White Dragon spoke first and said, “Our man Flanders has come to boasting upon himself.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “It is written in I Corinthians 1:31, ‘That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.’”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Sir Flanders found himself glorying in himself in front of his peers.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “The Griffin Keeper, were he humble before Almighty God, could conquer this world for good more speedily than did Alexander the Great conquer this world for himself back in the founding of the Greek Empire. But the Griffin Keeper, were he proud before Almighty God, could easily fall in battle by a stray arrow or a chance stroke of a sword.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “In his fall to pride with his griffins, his focus went from the LongSpear unto himself. Our God gave him the LongSpear gratis. And our God gave him his gift of spear fighting from His hand of blessing.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Our soldier man thinks that as a Christian warrior he has made himself.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Is it not written in I Corinthians 4:7, ‘For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?’”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Our mutual foe Lucifer also thinks to have made himself.”
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The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Remember what Lucifer said that made him to become Satan,”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “’I will ascend into Heaven,’ ‘I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,’ ‘I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north,’ ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,’ ‘I will be like the most High,’”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “’I will,’ ‘I will,’ ‘I will,’ ‘I will,’ ‘I will.’ That is what the Devil said when he fell from Heaven in pride.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “’My LongSpear,’ ‘my victories,’ ‘my battles,’ ‘my glory,’ ‘my self,’ That is how Sir Flanders Nickels has been talking to his comrades.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “’My. My. My. My. My,’ The man says that.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “He should be saying instead in reference to his God, ‘You. You. You. You. You.’”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Our Good Lord had given the griffin master that LongSpear on one condition—that he remain humble before God his Saviour. As long as Sir Flanders continues walking humbly with Christ that LongSpear will never miss its mark. But were Sir Flanders to walk to the right or to the left of the straight path of humility, that LongSpear will fail him.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Does a proud man look to God? Does a proud man seek God’s will? Does a proud man win battles in Christ? Does a proud man please his Lord and Saviour?”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Do remember the words of Proverbs 24:16, though, fellow angel.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “’For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again:…’”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “I have hope for that fellow.”
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The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Hope is wise in the eyes of the Good Lord.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “I have a godly hope for the girl, as well.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “The woman played the nymph with herself.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “It may not have been a bad thing in itself had she not gotten her friend’s one-piece swimsuit involved with it.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Women think with their hearts and not with their heads.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Remember what the prophet Nathan said to King David, after King David had committed adultery and murder.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “’Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.’
II Samuel 24:14.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Lady Jenny did a bad deed. Lady Tracy now blasphemes the Lord because of that. And now Lady Jenny has no more any credibility as an ambassador for Christ in the eyes of Lady Tracy.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Sin always affects someone else.”
The Good White Dragon said, “The new convert, in a weaker moment, ruined her testimony.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Remember the words of Zephaniah 3:17, my brother.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “Our Father is not only most of all a God of holiness, but also a God of love. Remember how Christians do say that their God ‘hates the sin, but loves the sinner.’ The God of the Christians is the God also of us angels. With help from her loving Heavenly Father, I believe that Lady Jenny can restore her testimony in the eyes of the lost Lady Tracy. And I
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believe that the two will patch up their broken friendship. And Tracy will hear Jenny tell her about Jesus again.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Do you believe that the unsaved woman will hear the saved woman’s preaching next time any more attentively as she had any of the other times, Brother?”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “A woman like Tracy—any person in any case—can say, ‘No’ to the Gospel message a hundred times in her life and on the one hundred and first time say, ‘Yes,’ to the Gospel, instead, and she gets gloriously saved.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “All it takes to get born again unto so great salvation is one ‘Yes,” to Jesus Who calls out.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “A ‘No’ can always be revoked by the girl in this life. But a true, ‘Yes.’ to the Saviour can no girl revoke.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Good old-time Baptist preachers used to say to their flocks, ‘There is no heart too hard that God cannot soften. There are no minds too blinded that God cannot make to see. There is no person too lost that God cannot save.’ I feel now that same way for wicked Lady Tracy.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “It is written in Isaiah 59:1, ‘Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.’”
The Good White Dragon said, “Amen, fellow angel!”
The Good Gray Dragon said, “The only thing that the girl Jennifer needs to worry about now is herself: she feels too dirty now to stand before her soon-to-be boyfriend-in-the-Lord.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Our God will take care of that. It will take just a little time. As the proverb of the people goes, ‘Time heals all wounds.’ And by the time Sir Flanders comes to sweep Lady Jenny off of her feet, she will have forgotten her iniquity.“
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “God is a God of compassion.”
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The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “Let us now leave the son and daughter of God in the good hands of the Lord Jesus.”
And the Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “It is good for all—man and woman and angel—to leave all in the good hands of the Lord Jesus.”
The Good White Dragon spoke and said, “I wish to go Back to Heaven and worship God again, my brother.”
The Good Gray Dragon spoke and said, “And I, too, very much indeed, my good angel fellow,”
And there in the countryside of Wisconsin, unseen by man and beast, Archangel Gabriel and Archangel Michael lifted up their colossal majestic wings and did ascend up into the skies and did fly back Up to Heaven to fall down in worship before Jesus Almighty sitting upon His throne.
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CHAPTER XIII
The Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins were camped for the morning at the southern border of Oconto County just outside the border of the town of Little Suamico. Sir Flanders was sitting down and stroking his LongSpear as if it were his second self. This Griffin Keeper had not renounced his pride.
“Master,” called forth Field Martial, “have you forgotten the girl for the LongSpear?”
“No, Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper. “I have not forgotten the girl for the LongSpear.” Sir Flanders then went on to reply further with a vainglorious tone to his voice, saying now, “I have a job first to do for Christ.”
“A job, Master?” asked one of the griffins.
“It must be taking on the one unicorn man and his one unicorn that we have not yet fought,” said Field Martial.
“Aye, good Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“Woe,” called forth one of the griffins. “The dread rider on the pale unicorn and his pale unicorn.”
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Upon hearing what he was thinking, the Griffin Keeper brought his LongSpear to his mouth and did kiss it with his lips as if kissing his own hand in boast. He then declared, “Death and I will do battle in Oconto County.”
In good cheer, another griffin said, “Master, your job for Christ is also our job for Christ.”
“No, good and well-meaning griffin friend,” said the Griffin Keeper. “This job will be mine alone.”
“Master,” cried out another griffin, “did our Good God tell you that?”
“He did not,” said Sir Flanders.
“Master, does that mean that you are fighting a battle against the will of the Lord?” asked another griffin.
“I have never fought a battle against the will of the Lord,” said Sir Flanders in stern retort.
“Master, there has never been a time when we have not waged war without all of us in it together,” said another griffin.
“That’s enough,” snapped the Griffin Keeper. Then he quietly declared, “Griffins all, your master has come to a most curious question that he needs to answer for himself.”
“What is your question, O Master?” asked another griffin.
“Who is the world’s greatest warrior—myself or Death?” replied the Griffin Keeper.
Another griffin gasped upon such a query, and he said, “Master, Death has already killed one out of every four people on this Earth!”
Captain of the Guard said, “Master, his scythe is a doomsday machine!”
Chief of Staff said, “His sickle sends people to Hell for a season, O Master!”
And Sergeant of Arms said, “His pale unicorn summons demons from beneath!”
And Field Martial said, “Master, you need us, and we need you, in our battles in the Lord!”
In five short words, the Battle Keeper had the final say: “This one is on me!”
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And twelve mighty griffins of war trembled at the wrath of their keeper, and they said no more, and they gave in to his will.
Behold, a pale unicorn approaching from afar, whose gait was steady and neither fast nor slow, and whose hooves seemed to glide just above the ground without quite touching it. Yet this pale unicorn did not have a rider upon his back. And very soon the pale unicorn stood before Sir Flanders and the griffins. It was indeed Death’s pale unicorn. And Death was indeed not come. And there was a note appended to the pale unicorn’s horn. This message must surely have come from Death.
Sir Flanders went ahead to take the note from the pale unicorn’s horn and did read it silently to himself. And this was what it said to him;
“To: Flanders Nickels the Griffin Keeper
From: Death who rides a pale unicorn.
Re: A challenge offered and hopefully accepted.
Dear Sir Flanders:
You are cordially invited to do battle with the rider on the pale unicorn at a place
later disclosed in this letter. This battle on your part must be sans any of your
griffin soldiers. On Death’s part, Death consents to do battle sans his own unicorn
and without his sickle. This match will be between you with your LongSpear and
Death and his scythe. May the better man win. May the lesser man lose. The winner
lives on. The loser dies dead. This battle Death requests to take place at sunset this
day’s end. And Death requires that it take place on Little Tail Point, a little peninsula
due east of where you are now camped that extends out into the bay of Green Bay. It
shall be a day’s walk for a man. Death awaits you there now when your walk is completed
The rider on the pale unicorn has, as you can see now, sent his pale unicorn to you as
his official messenger. If you reply to Death’s contest with an ‘Aye,’ then pluck off a
feather from your Field Martial and append it to the pale unicorn’s horn. If your reply
to Death’s challenge is a ‘Nay,’ then cut off the end of the tail of Field Martial and
append it to the pale unicorn’s horn. Do not seek to threaten or hinder or harass the
pale unicorn who delivers his rider’s message to you this morning. If you leave the
pale unicorn alone this time, he will not hurt you this time.
Felicitations and salutations,
Death, who rides a pale unicorn.”
“Master.” called forth Field Martial in supplication. “What does it say?”
Sir Flanders silently plucked off a feather from his best friend’s wing and stuck it on to the
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pale unicorn’s horn. He then said to the twelve, “This is between me and Death.” Then he gave the written message to Field Martial. And Field Martial took the note, but did not read it yet.
Experienced at war, the twelve griffins now surrounded their enemy the pale unicorn, Sir Flanders’s troops ready for their master to command them to attack.
The lone pale unicorn was not afraid.
The Griffin Keeper commanded now, “Leave the pale unicorn go.” And he said, “Retreat and separate yourselves one from another.”
The pale unicorn stood there with mischief in his eyes.
In obedience the griffin soldiers backed up and opened wide lanes for him to go through easily.
All the pale unicorn had to do now was to gallop unhindered to his master.
Yet, instead he began to toot a series of summons with his unicorn horn. He gave one toot, and a
demon from hell came up out of the ground. He gave a second toot, and a second demon from hell came up. He gave a third toot that brought a third demon. Six total times did this pale unicorn toot on his unicorn horn, and in so doing, he did bring six demons here with all unnecessary chaos and confusion to the peaceful griffins. And having spited God’s griffins and master in so doing, the pale unicorn then easily slipped away and began to gallop back to his rider not far away for an equine.
After a nasty little skirmish, the griffins overcame the little devils, and the little devils ran off, not ever coming back. “That dastardly devil!” cursed Field Martial that pale unicorn.
Chief of Staff said, “Like rider, like unicorn!”
Captain of the Guard said, “Those unclean spirits stick up the air!”
Sergeant of Arms said, “Those imps touched me!”
Then, when all was settled down, the Griffin Keeper began to walk away from his griffins. By the time the other part of this day was finishing up, he would be there at the field of battle. And soon their Griffin master was out of sight. Then the griffins, one-by-one, silently read the message that Field
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Martial was given by the keeper. And God’s twelve favorite griffins of his griffin kind gathered in a prayer circle, and they prayed for their foolish master, one-by-one, out loud for a major part of the rest of this day.
Afternoon was giving way to evening at Little Tail Point. Sir Flanders stood before Death, and Death stood before Sir Flanders. Yet at Death’s side was his pale unicorn, a breach of the challenge offered and accepted. The Griffin Keeper said, “I brought not my griffins with me, and yet you brought your pale unicorn with you.”
Death gave a promise, saying, “My pale unicorn will not participate in our battle, O Griffin Keeper.”
“Is the rider of the pale unicorn adding a second lie unto a first lie?” asked Sir Flanders in challenge.
Death went on to say, “I see that you brought your LongSpear per agreement.”
Sir Flanders said, “But I do not see your scythe as per our agreement.”
“I have my scythe in my pale unicorn’s saddlebag”,” said Death. And Death walked over to his pale unicorn and took his scythe out of a saddlebag.
“I see two saddlebags on your pale unicorn,” said Sir Flanders.
“The other saddlebag is empty,” said Death.
“The sun is getting lower in the sky, O rider of your pale unicorn,” said the Griffin Keeper.
“I shall commence battle,” said Death.
“And I shall terminate battle,” said Sir Flanders.
At once Death swung his scythe from left to right toward the side of Sir Flanders’s neck in an attempt to behead him right where he stood. Sir Flanders most agilely eluded this strike by bending his knees and falling down into a squat. The blade of the scythe passed by above his head with the sound
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of a wind. At once Sir Flanders got straight right back up after this most athletic move. Right after this, Sir Flanders then thrust his LongSpear right in toward Death’s belly. Neither young nor athletic, but supernatural, Death very quickly shifted his torso to the side. And Sir Flanders’s LongSpear struck air in a clean miss off to the side of Death where he stood. Next Death raised his scythe above his head in both hands and did swing right straight down toward Sir Flanders’s head from above. His swing made a sound as of wind again. In a most physical dodge, Sir Flanders forced himself down to the ground and rolled over in a somersault off to the side. And Death missed again. And very quickly Sir Flanders once again leaped up to his feet. Then Sir Flanders thrust his LongSpear right toward Death’s heart. Again with a supernatural shifting of his chest, Death eluded the LongSpear, and Sir Flanders’s LongSpear struck air just above Death’s shoulder in another miss. Then Death swung his scythe in a right-to-left sweeping, aiming for Sir Flanders’s ribs. Sir Flanders again heard the wind behind the scythe. With more great exertion, Sir Flanders threw his body backwards away from the blade, and he landed safely upon his back. Death had missed for a third time. And again Sir Flanders leaped back on his feet. And Sir Flanders then sought to thrust his spear down upon Death’s bare foot, hoping to pin it down upon the ground. But Death supernaturally shifted his toes, and Flanders’s LongSpear struck the ground next to Death’s foot in a third miss, and his LongSpear was stuck there in the Earth. Very quickly Sir Flanders pulled his LongSpear out of the Earth in both hands. Death’s evasions were simple and did not take any energy to perform. Sir Flanders’s evasions were complex and did take energy to perform. Next Death swung his scythe from side-to-side, aiming for Flanders’s heart, the wind coming again. In great skills Sir Flanders leaped straight up five feet into the air from where he stood. And Death’s scythe passed by just below Sir Flanders’s feet at the apex of his leap. And when Sir Flanders came back down upon his feet, the scythe had missed its mark once again. Then Sir Flanders thrust his LongSpear toward Death’s throat. But once again Death was faster than he, and with a supernatural shifting of his neck, Death made Sir Flanders miss again, his LongSpear passing
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harmlessly through the air alongside the neck of Death. Flanders was becoming weary. Death was well-rested. Then Death swung his scythe diagonally down toward Sir Flanders’s knees, once again with wind. In great abilities, Sir Flanders took his LongSpear and stuck it into the ground and used it as a pole vault, and he pole vaulted himself several feet away from the scythe. And Death missed for his fifth time. Quickly Sir Flanders pole-vaulted himself back before Death. Flanders was breathing heavily now. Death was breathing regularly yet. Then Sir Flanders thrust his LongSpear toward Death’s leg, only to find Death supernaturally shift his legs and make Sir Flanders strike only air to the side of Death’s knee. Sir Flanders had missed for a fifth time.
This battle continued thus. And Sir Flanders grew fatigued, then weak, then faint. And Death was not even winded.
Too tired to fight anymore for the moment, Sir Flanders had to lean against his spear stuck into the ground to keep from falling. The invincible Griffin Keeper was not so invincible right now. He knew that Death merely had to swing his scythe this time and this time he would not miss. And Sir Flanders would fall dead in battle. His pride had gotten him in this predicament. And he had come here without God to fight the rider of the pale unicorn. Had he come here in the Lord, he might have won.
He now remembered that the LongSpear did not belong to himself, but, rather, to God. And the Lord had never called the Griffin Keeper to take on a unicornman of the Apocalypse without his griffins. Sir Flanders’s head was so dizzy. His whole body hurt with sores as if he had indeed been struck with a scythe. And his chest hurt with his labored gasping. But he rallied and held on to the LongSpear he had stuck into the ground and did not fall to the Earth.
Where was Death? Why was he late in coming with his scythe? Why was he letting Sir Flanders live a little longer? Rallying once again, Sir Flanders shook his disorientation out of his head and looked up and saw Death standing beside his pale unicorn. The rider was opening up that other saddlebag and reaching in and pulling something out. And then he held it up in the air and paused to
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gaze upon it and then showed it off to the defeated Griffin Keeper.
Behold, Death’s sickle!
And with no further delay, Death with his sickle mounted his pale unicorn, raised his sickle in the air, and commanded his pale unicorn to charge the Griffin Keeper where he leaned.
Accursed doom awaited Flanders in that sickle.
Meanwhile, Lady Jennifer was in her front yard with Lady Tracy. Lady Jennifer was completely restored to fellowship in Christ from her backsliding, and she was once again dressed as that country girl in that beloved cowgirl outfit. But she and Lady Tracy were not yet completely reconciled. At their feet lay a motionless seagull upon its side.
“Is it dead?” asked Lady Jenny.
“It looks dead,” said Lady Tracy.
“It’s all bloody,” said Lady Jenny.
“How did this happen?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I don’t know, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny. “I’m scared.”
“Seagulls are sent by God. Aren’t they?” asked Lady Tracy.
“Uh huh,” said Lady Jenny.
“Seagulls aren’t supposed to die, Jen,’” said Tracy. “Now I am scared.”
“It looks like a demon went and mangled it,” said Lady Jenny.
“I can’t look anymore,” said Lady Tracy.
“There is a note in its beak,” said Lady Jennifer.
“What should we do?” asked Lady Tracy.
“It is probably a note for one of us,” said Lady Jenny.
“Probably for you, Jen,’ because you are a believer,” said Lady Tracy in deference.
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“The devil must have wished for me not to get this message,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Only the devil would go and kill a seagull,” said Lady Tracy.
“Oh, Trace,’ I can’t reach down and take the note,” said Lady Jenny. “I can’t look anymore, either.”
Lady Tracy reached down toward the seagull carcass and forced herself to take the note from the dead beak. Then she gave it to Lady Jenny. And Lady Jenny thanked her. And Jenny Jubilee read this note out loud to the both of them: “Dear Lady Jennifer, daughter of God: At this moment the Devil is bidding Sir Flanders, ‘Go down thither.’ Pray for the Griffin Keeper at once, O great woman of God. Yours in spiritual warfare, Messenger angel Gabriel, hindered by Satan, who stands in the way.”
“Jen, does that note say that Satan kept the Good Gray Dragon from delivering this message?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I believe so,” said Lady Jenny.
“So Gabriel must have given the message to this seagull,” said Lady Tracy.
“I believe so, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny.
“I’m getting away from here,” said Lady Tracy.
“Please stay with me, O Tracy,” pleaded Lady Jenny in this time of great troubles.
“I shall stay,” said Lady Tracy Westwind.
“The worst news is that something might happen to Sir Flanders,” said Lady Jennifer.
“It sounds like he might go down to Hell, Jen,” called out Lady Tracy.
“The lake of fire,” said Lady Jennifer.
“I thought that that only happened to us lost people,” said Lady Tracy.
“Yes. It does, Trace,’” said Lady Jennifer. “But Death can do the same thing to a man with his sickle. What will he be like when he comes back out?”
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“I thought that we bad people never get out of Hell,” said Lady Tracy. “You told me that when God has to cast a person into Hell, that that person is there forever.”
“With the rider on the pale unicorn, when he strikes a man with his sickle, that man goes down to hell only for a while,” said Lady Jennifer.
“A little while down in hell is more like a long while down in hell,” said Lady Tracy. Then she said, “I bet that the rider on the pale unicorn wishes that he could make his victims stay longer down there.”
“Would that I could take the sickle in my own chest for Sir Flanders’s sake,” said Lady Jennifer.
In a moment of passion, Lady Jenny then fell on her knees and looked up to Heaven and prayed, “Father, let me go to hell and let not Sir Flanders go to hell .”
“Jen,’ I think that the note said to pray for Sir Flanders, not to try to make bargains with God for Sir Flanders,” said Lady Tracy.
“You are so good to me, O Tracy,” said Lady Jenny. “Would you pray with me for my handsome Griffin Keeper?”
“I can do that for you, Jenny,” said Lady Tracy. “But remember, you told me that God does not hear the prayers of the lost.”
“Yes. Of course,” said Lady Jennifer, getting down upon her knees in the short green grass.
“You can do the praying. I can do the listening,” said Lady Tracy, kneeling down at her side.
“Wonderful and faithful Tracy, would you forgive me for the wrong that I had done to you?” cried out Lady Jenny.
“Oh, I surely do, my best friend,” said Lady Tracy. And, on their knees before God, the two young women hugged and cried. And Lady Jenny and Lady Tracy were completely reconciled to each other just as if Jenny had not sinned against Tracy.
The two girls in a prayer circle, Lady Jenny prayed to God to now bless Sir Flanders with
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great showers of mercy. And in this prayer, she repeatedly told God of Psalm 136’s theme, ‘For his mercy endureth for ever.’ And she ended her prayer with Psalm 13:5, which says, ‘But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.’ Then she said, “In Jesus’s name. Amen.”
“Amen,” also said Lady Tracy, this time her first time ever saying such a word.
The two girls looked up now from prayer. Behold, another seagull—one alive and well—coming in upon them and lighting before Jenny Jubilee, a note in its beak, of course.
“Good news from Heaven, Jen?’” asked Lady Tracy. “I hope.”
Lady Jenny took the note and did read it out loud for the both of them, both girls still on their knees: “Lady Jennifer, I have heard your prayers. I have seen your tears. I have felt your great cares.
I, Almighty God Above do have Lucifer on a leash. I shall now pull back on Lucifer’s leash. He shall not smite your Flanders with hell’s torments for a season. Your Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
In joy and rejoicing the two girls stood up, clasped hands, and danced around in circles of great relief and celebration in the Lord. And yet, even as good as this was, there was something else happening now to Lady Tracy’s secret thoughts that bode most well for her. Unknown by her Christian best friend, Lady Tracy now believed in Lady Jenny for her many words about her personal Saviour from throughout these past many months that she had kept speaking to her. She believed in Jenny’s testimonies now once again, here after Jenny’s temporary fall. And Lady Tracy now felt that the day might come where she may believe in Jenny’s God just like Jenny did her God. This Christ Jesus was no longer just Lady Jennifer talking again. Lady Tracy Lynn Westwind was considering salvation for herself now for her first time.
Then, their celebration done, they saw the living seagull from God fly away. And then they buried the dead seagull from God.
Meanwhile, the rider on his pale unicorn and his pale unicorn were coming in with his damning
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sickle down upon the Griffin Keeper where he was leaning upon his LongSpear. Ready for the worst, Sir Flanders prayed seven humble words: “Thy will be done, O Good Lord.” And he thought to hear a wind coming up from behind himself. And this wind gave him an inexplicable comfort. He took his thoughts away from his doom and focused them on this strange benevolent wind. It grew louder and stronger and nearer. It was not God, but it was of God. What could it be coming for him? Why did he not yet feel the painful impaling of the sickle into his body and the more painful effect upon his soul of what came after being smitten by that sickle?
Daring now to look back up toward Death charging on a pale unicorn, he suddenly saw the pale unicorn rearing up and Death falling down to the ground upon his own bottom! What was God doing?
It was definitely for the favor of the Griffin Keeper. The wind behind Sir Flanders must have had something to do with all of this. And Sir Flanders turned back to look. Lo, his avenging air force of griffins coming to his rescue! This wind had come from their combined twenty-four great and majestic wings in speed of flight. And Field Martial was leading the way.
In haste for departure, Death quickly gathered up his weapons, leaped upon his pale unicorn, and fled for his life. And the griffins were upon him. And he cried out in dismay. And he escaped in most great shame. And the Griffin Keeper lived to not suffer Death’s sickle.
Another victory in Jesus, the twelve griffins and their Griffin Keeper looked upon one another, the twelve to the one and the one to the twelve. Not a word was spoken. But their master’s countenance manifested a true and sincere change of heart. He was now his old self once again. And nothing was going to change that again. Pride of life had left Sir Flanders’s heart. And the griffins no longer feared their master for his former vanity.
Then the Griffin Keeper proceeded to hug and to thank and to ask forgiveness from each one of his twelve griffins, one by one. And when he finished doing this, the Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins were completely reconciled to each other.
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Then the Griffin Keeper spoke an avowal, saying, “I love you all,”
And the twelve griffins said back, “And we love you, O Master.”
And a chorus of praises and thanksgivings and beatitudes and benedictions and doxologies arose from this great and formidable group of thirteen that truly reached up to Heaven and God’s throne. And the Lord heard them and it was to him “an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.”
Then Field Martial asked, “What about the girl, Master?”
“The girl,” said Sir Flanders, now remembering. “’Lady Guinevere,’ my fair Jenny.”
“Shall we now cross the county border, Master?” asked Field Martial.
And in commands, the Griffin Keeper said, “Let us now enter Brown County, where my Miss Jubilee awaits me.”
And Sir Flanders went on to begin this last span of flight toward De Pere. There were to be no more battles against evil before he would get to meet the young Christian woman. And all that he could think of now was that beatific South Good Hope Road and its special born again girl.
It is written, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8.
It is written again, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Luke 11:9-10.
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CHAPTER XIV
The Griffin Keeper stood before the house, his feet upon the front stoop, and his eyes looking upon the front door right before him. His twelve griffins stood behind him in a single file line that stretched from the steps of the front porch and down the private sidewalk out to the road.
“Well, this is it,” said Sir Flanders.
“We have arrived,” said Field Martial.
Sir Flanders fell into reverie now of what he had seen at the end of this journey just before he got here. He had seen the green sign very near back that read in white letters, “De Pere, Incorporated,” signifying this city that he had just entered. He had seen the road sign in its little rectangular shape that
read “Good Hope Road.” This Good Hope Road was in a U-shape, whose both north and south ends both intersected with a road called Fox River Drive. This was the southern stretch of Good Hope Road where he was now. The Bible did call the rapture of the church that had happened a year ago “the blessed hope.” And right now he was gazing upon the number on this front door. It read “777.”
Seven was God’s number of completion, of perfection. And this “777” was a trinity of sevens, just as God was a trinity of Persons in His triune Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He remembered how he was just standing in front of her mailbox at the curb of this road. Her mailbox had two names–
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“Jennifer Joy Jubilee,” and “Tracy Lynn Westwind.” The girl must have a roommate. He daydreamed upon her name. It was an alliteration of “J’s.” Lady Jenny was surely a virgin, just as he was. And they would keep it that way for as long as they were girlfriend-and-boyfriend-in-Christ. His Fair Lady Jennifer was just exactly that—a lady in all her traits as a born-again believer living always for Christ. Lady Jenny was chaste and demure and pure and good and a nice girl in all the attributes that made a young woman a nice girl. After all, this gal was the world’s only born-again Christian woman in all of this tribulation Earth.
Not quite ready for the girl yet, Sir Flanders asked, “Is this really the right house, Field Martial?”
Knowing it was so with the all the proofs that all the griffins had also seen, Field Martial said, “This is the right house, Master.”
“What if it is the other woman who answers this door?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
“Master, leave such things as that in God’s hands,” said Field Martial.
“If is the right girl who answers the door, what do I say to her?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Just tell the gal who you are, and let everything else come after that, my master,” said Field Martial.
“One last question, Field Martial,” said the Griffin Keeper. “Should I ring the doorbell or knock on the doorknocker?”
“Master, it is good that you are more decisive in battle than you are in love,” teased Field Martial.
And Sir Flanders took a breath and did get back his customary boldness in God. Being an old-fashioned guy, he reached for the doorknocker.
Just then he heard from behind himself a strange braying of an animal. The griffins heard it, also. The thirteen turned back around to see what kind of animal this was who made such a call.
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There stood alone a beast that could not talk. He gave forth the bray again. It sounded like a “hee haw.”
“Why, isn’t that a donkey, Master?” asked Chief of Staff.
“He might live here, Master,” said Captain of the Guard.
“He must be a pet of one of these girls, Master,” said Sergeant of Arms.
“He could be Lady Jenny’s pet, O Master,” said Field Martial.
“He’s handsome,” said Sir Flanders.
All along in this interim, all thirteen beholding this donkey had their back to the front door.
Just then Sir Flanders heard a resonant and pleasant voice of a woman calling out from the house, “What is it, Journeyman?”
The Griffin Keeper turned quickly around to see this gal who called out. He saw her. She saw him. She was indeed a lady his age, herself beautiful of visage and slender of frame and alluring in attire. She took one look at him, and she sang out in great elation, “Lord Flanders!”
“Lady Jenny!’ he called back in query and in exultation.
“It is I, Sir Flanders,” she said. “Is it you?”
“It is I, Lady Jennifer,” he said.
“Your humble handmaiden is flattered at your anticipated arrival,” said Lady Jennifer with a most feminine curtsy in her complete cowgirl outfit.
“Your humble servant is honored to have finally arrived,” said Sir Flanders with a most masculine bow.
“I pray that I was worth the journey from afar, Sir Flanders,” said Lady Jenny.
“Lady Jenny, you are worth a journey from the other side of the world,” said Sir Flanders.
Lady Jenny then turned to look at Sir Flanders’s pets. And she went on to say, “Never before have I seen such glorious griffins as your griffins, Flanders.”
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“The Good Lord has given them to me,” said Sir Flanders. “And the Good Lord has given me to them.”
“They are all each as noble and gallant as their master,” said Lady Jenny.
“Would a godly lady like yourself give the Griffin Keeper the honor of introducing his griffins to you one by one, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders.
“I know your griffins better than anyone else in the fifty states, Flanders,” bragged Lady Jenny on the renowned Griffin Keeper of his Fifty-First State. “I know their names, which one is which, and everything about them.”
“You do, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders, duly flattered by this fan from Wisconsin.
“Would you deign to let a simple girl like myself come up to your griffin soldiers and give them
all due accolades one at a time, Flanders?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“A woman who praises my griffins praises me,” said Sir Flanders in self-effacement.
And Lady Jennifer went ahead to show the renowned Griffin Keeper the knowledge that she had acquired about his griffins from her much reading these past many months:
First she came up to the griffin Troop, and she said to him, “You are Troop. You do talk to the ponies and the horses of the Fifty-First State. You attend faithfully the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. You know all about Man-O-War. You have said, “Hi,” to Secretariat. You have befriended Pegasus. You often envy hippogriffs. Your favorite equine is the ass upon which Jesus rode in His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. And right now you are greatly excited over my donkey, for you hope for him to become your new best equine friend. And for that latter kudo I do say to you, ‘He will be your new friend, and I will be your new friend.’” Troop bowed his head in greetings before the girl.
Then Lady Jennifer approached the griffin Galleon, and she said to him, “You are Galleon. In the mornings you do fly above the paradise of the Fifty-First State, rejoicing in your great eagle’s traits.
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And in the evenings you do walk about the lands of the Fifty-First State, rejoicing in your great lion’s
traits. Your favorite natural bird is the Bald Eagle, the very symbol of America. Your favorite natural
mammal is the lion, the king of the beasts. Being a griffin you do always say about yourself, ‘I am eagle and lion together, but I am not eagle alone and lion alone.’ I do admire your hybrid form, and I shall be your friend.” Galleon returned greetings to the girl with a bow of obeisance in his eagle
legs.
Then Lady Jennifer came up to the griffin Infantry, and she said, “You are Infantry. You are a scholar of John Milton and of William Shakespeare. In your leisure time you have memorized parts of The Canterbury Tales written in their Middle English. Lately you have been reading Beowulf in its Old English. Your favorite reading class book is the college reading book The Norton Anthology of English Literature. And there is one Book which you do call most appropriately ‘The Book of Books.’ It is the Authorized King James Version Bible. And you read it daily. You study the original 1611 version. And your favorite book in the Bible is the book of Proverbs. Keep up the good study of the Good Book. I am honored to have you as friend.” And Infantry gave homage to Lady Jenny.
Then Lady Jenny came up to the griffin Captain of the Guard. And she said, “You are Captain of the Guard, and you are a champion for the cause of creationism. You know that evolutionism is a false religion. You have shut down the mouths of evolutionists in all of your debates with them. In the auditoriums and gymnasiums and arenas you have stood alone for the Creator God against whole panels of educated professors and scholars and writers who stood for their evolutionism. And they all lost in their debates against you. You have memorized the two creation chapters in the Holy Bible—Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two. And you, as a griffin made by the Maker, are a living and glorious and manifest testimony to the creation that our Creator has wrought. I am a creationist, too, just as also is your master. I am glad to become your new friend.” And Captain of the Guard gave honor unto Lady Jennifer in greeting.
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Then Lady Jenny came up to the griffin Centurion, and she said, “You are Centurion, and you are this year a century old. One hundred years old is not young for a griffin. Before you found Sir Flanders, you hunted and ate and merely existed. After you found Sir Flanders, you did find life with meaning and happiness and contentment. Lean for you had been your first ninety-nine years as a centenarian. Prosperous for you has been your last year as a centenarian. The renowned Griffin Keeper, who has announced himself to the world a year ago, has made this difference for you. Your own coming into being predates even most of the trees of the Fifty-First State. Indeed you are the eldest of the twelve griffins of the Griffin Keeper. And you have seen all the days of the twentieth century in its one hundred years. The honor in meeting you is mine.” And Centurion replied in welcome.
Then the Christian woman came up to the griffin Field Martial. And she did say, “You are Field Martial, and you are ever at the right hand of the Griffin Keeper. You are the incarnation of the word ‘best friend.’ Your best friendship with Sir Flanders is like unto that between David and Jonathan in the Bible wherein it is written in II Samuel 1:27, ‘thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.’ You know all of your master’s secrets, all of your master’s strengths, and all of your master’s
weaknesses. And when Sir Flanders and I settle into regular dating, do not fear that a woman will steal your master away from you. Nay, good griffin, instead you will gain in myself a second best friend for you to complement the best friend you already have in your life with Sir Flanders. Does not the Bible say that a ‘threefold cord is not quickly broken?’ I promise to get to love you as I already do Sir Flanders. I am flattered to be here and greet you like this.” And Field Martial greeted her back with exuberance and enthusiasm.
Next the pretty young woman came up to the griffin Fortress, and she said, “You are Fortress.
Your academic degrees are many—A bachelor of arts at Princeton, a master of arts at Harvard, and a Ph. D at Yale. Back then your course of study was philosophy. Being a scholar of Socrates and Plato
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and Aristotle, you once considered yourself wise in your learning. But when you became the Griffin Keeper’s griffin you did find man’s philosophy to be foolishness and God’s wisdom to be eternal truth.
And Sir Flanders began to teach you the perfect doctrines that were found only in the King James Bible. You found out that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And you have since become a most profoundly wise griffin of the Scriptures. And your new favorite book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes, written by the most wise king Solomon. I am happy to meet you.” And Fortress said that he was happy to meet her, too.
Then Jennifer Jubilee came up to the griffin Chief of Staff, and she said to him, “You are Chief of Staff. And you have served as bodyguard to the presidents of the United States—both the good presidents and the bad presidents. Just as Billy Graham had ministered in part as preacher to the presidents you have ministered in full as protector of the presidents. There are no more presidents of America now that Antichrist and the False Prophet rule the world from Europe. And you do not sin against the holy God by serving to protect those two. Now you serve God as a griffin of the Griffin Keeper. You help protect Sir Flanders from unicornmen and their unicorns in battles for the Lord. Even greater is your calling in this tribulation than was your calling in America’s past world domination. I am glad to finally meet you.” And Chief of Staff replied in like in glad greetings.
Then the born-again gal came up to the griffin Cavalry, and she said, “You are Cavalry, the athlete among griffin kind. You love to run fast and far. You love to fly in races in the sky. You love to compete in games and to win. You love your training exercises with your keeper. You especially love to compete in obstacle courses with the other griffins. And you always win in the obstacle courses. You are a fierce competitor in games. And you are fierce warrior in battles. And you are the youngest of the griffins here. This day you turn ten years old. And you ever rejoice in your youth. I also always rejoice in my youth. We both know how good it feels to be a young adult with our whole lives ahead of us. Glad to meet you. And happy birthday.” And Cavalry thanked her and greeted her back in warmth.
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Then the beautiful girl came up to the griffin Bulwark, and she said unto him, “You are Bulwark, and you love pencil puzzles. You work crossword puzzles in the big city Sunday newspapers.
You work word search puzzles in little purse books found on drugstore racks. You work crosspatches everywhere; they are also called ‘crisscrosses.’ You work anagrams. You work cryptograms. You work acrostics. You work those logic puzzles with the grids. You work mazes in whole puzzle books only of mazes. You work wishing wells. You work at spot-the-differences with two similar but not identical drawings. You work the same kinds of spot-the-differences with photographs in like. And it all started for you with that first dot-to-dot puzzle book. But you do not do number puzzles. I am delighted to greet you.” And Bulwark, thus flattered, greeted her back.
Then Lady Jennifer came up to the griffin Sergeant of Arms, and she said, “You are Sergeant of Arms. Your love for the hunt exceeds even the love for the hunt of mighty Nimrod in the Bible in the book of Genesis. You hunt black bears in the Midwest and grizzly bears in Alaska and polar bears in the North Pole. You hunt lions and tigers in Africa. You once told your master that you wish to have lived in the antediluvian world so that you could hunt even dinosaurs. And you regret not having been able to hunt the behemoth of Job chapter forty and the leviathan of Job chapter forty-one. And you once even dared on Earth to hunt down a whole pack of wolves all by yourself, and you got them all and brought them home for meat for your keeper and your fellow griffins. And truly you fight evil for God with the same zeal in which you hunt for yourself. What fortune I find in greeting you.” And Sergeant of Arms thanked her for her words and did greet her back.
Then Lady Jenny Jubilee came up to the griffin Brigade, and she said to him, “You are Brigade, and your favorite pastime in the goodness of the Fifty-First State is watching the clouds. On a clear sunny day, with the sky blue and the clouds white, you lie down and watch the changing of the cumulus clouds up in God’s firmament. I do the same thing sometimes. We both know how the clouds gradually change as they float across the sky. Some get bigger. Some get smaller. But they all change in time.
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But you are a griffin of imagination. And you are a griffin of wars. In your fancies as you watch the clouds, you do see the waxing clouds as victors in battle; and the waning clouds, as losers in battle. Very glad to meet you.” And Brigade greeted her in friendship as well.
Lady Jenny saw the wonder in Sir Flanders’s eyes upon her most familiar knowledge of his griffin family. And his countenance exuded great approval of her twelve greetings to his twelve griffins. She knew his griffin warriors in ways that he only knew. And his heart was drawn even more fervidly to the girl. And the girl felt equal ardor for him because of this.
Then Sir Flanders said, “Jenny, you know all about my pets, but I do not know anything about your pet. All I know is that you call his name,’Journeyman.’”
“Yes, Flanders. Journeyman,” said Lady Jenny.
Sir Flanders came up to good Journeyman in amity and did stand next to him and began to pet him on the back of his neck where the donkey was standing. In friendship the donkey leaned his donkey frame to the side up against Flanders where he was standing. And Journeyman brayed in content with good Sir Flanders as Sir Flanders petted him. And the donkey leaned his head up against Sir Flanders’s shoulder. And Sir Flanders leaned down and kissed the donkey affectionately upon the top of his head. Then Flanders put his arms around the donkey’s neck and gave him a good loving hug.
Lady Jennifer was most delighted at seeing her new boyfriend and her old donkey bonding so naturally like this. She said, “Talk to him, Flanders. He loves to be talked to.”
And Sir Flanders spoke his verbal greeting now to add to his physical greeting, “Hi, good and handsome Journeyman. I am Sir Flanders Nickels, and I love animals. I am crazy for your mistress.
She is a great woman of God. And she is one classy girl. And she is a beautiful gal. God has brought me and her and my griffins and you together this day. I am happy to become your new friend, if you would like to become my new friend.”
And in reply, the good donkey brayed a “hee haw” at Flanders that was a definite, “Yes,” to his
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proposal.
Then Sir Flanders and Lady Jenny looked at each other. Nothing verbal was spoken between them. She cocked her head to the side at him in flirt. He beamed at her in affection. It was time now for them to get alone with each other and tell each other all about themselves on a first date.
Field Martial could see this. And he said, “Le t us griffins leave you alone with the girl for a while, O Master, while you first get to know each other.”
“God bless you, most astute Field Martial,” said Sir Flanders.
And at once the twelve griffins and the one donkey went out back behind the house to play games among each other, leaving the new boyfriend and new girlfriend alone in this front yard to chat and share fellowship with each other.
They sat down in the green grass, and talked. Lady Jenny told Sir Flanders lots about her life in Christ here in the tribulation of the world in this thirtieth state of the union. And, in like, Flanders told Jenny all about his saved life in this tribulation world in his Godly haven of the Fifty-First State of the union.
Then Lady Jennifer asked him a hard question. She said to him, “Flanders, you gave me a scare. I feared doom for you. A seagull came to tell me and died in doing it. And I prayed that you end up okay. And here you are, all right and well.”
“A seagull had to die, because of my sin?” asked Sir Flanders in personal remorse.
“God told me that day that you were in great danger, Flanders.” said Lady Jenny. “What happened?”
“Ah, my sin has found me out,” he said. “Now I must tell my first girlfriend what I did.”
“I care for you, Flanders,” said gentle and Christian Lady Jenny.
“I was in dire peril, Jenny,” he said. “I almost had to go to Hell for a while.”
“Death’s sickle! I knew it!” she said.
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And in confession of his sin he told the girl all: “Jenny, the Griffin Keeper got too big for his britches with his griffins.”
“Did you fall into pride, Flanders?” asked Lady Jenny.
“I did, Jenny. I thought that I could win battles for Christ without my griffin allies. But Christ had called me to fight battles for Him with my griffin allies. I thought that I could defeat the rider on the pale unicorn with just myself and my LongSpear when I was outside of the will of God. When I was defeated by Death, then I humbled myself before God Almighty. And the Lord answered your prayers and my griffins’ prayers for myself. And my griffins came for me and did chase away Death on his pale unicorn. And through God we eventually won that battle. No thanks to me, O Jenny.”
“My boyfriend-in-Christ got proud because of his military success,” said Lady Jenny.
“I was wrong. God was right. You know all about it now. Do you still like me?” asked Sir Flanders.
“I forgive you, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny. “And I still like you. And I will never stop liking you. My crush for you has gotten stronger now that I see you as human like myself. I praise God for His great mercy.”
“Indeed has God punished me less than my sins deserved,” confessed Sir Flanders.
Lady Jennifer took a breath, sought God’s words to tell Flanders, and said, “If you think that you did something real bad, you should hear what your girlfriend-in Christ went and did, Flanders.”
“You did something bad, too, Jenny?” he asked.
“I did, Flanders,’ she said. “If I tell you, do you promise not to think less of me?”
“You forgave me. I shall surely forgive you, Jenny,” he said. “Was it a sin?”
“Oh, It was a sin, all right,” she said. “I did it just the other day.”
“What did you do?” he asked the girl.
“Well…I went and masturbated for my first time,” she told most of all of it.
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In conciliation Sir Flanders responded succinctly, “Natural…but not unusual.”
“And I did it in a women’s white one-piece swimsuit,” confessed Lady Jenny, trying to tell all but coming up short.
In further encouragement, Sir Flanders went and replied, “Kinky, but not naughty.”
Then Lady Jenny confessed the whole truth, “I did it in my roommate’s brand new maillot before she even had a chance to put it on for her first time.”
And Sir Flanders went on to say, “A small sin in men’s eyes, but not a small sin in our holy God’s eyes.”
“All sin is bad in the Lord’s eyes, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny.
“You’ve got a fetish, Jenny,” he said.
“Not anymore. Not this girl. Not ever again,” declared Lady Jennifer. “I quit that. I will never do that again. I buried it six feet deep”
“Does your roommate know?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Yeah. I told her. And we had a big fight,” said Lady Jenny. “Now she won’t believe me anymore when I try to tell her about my Saviour.”
“Don’t give up. Keep witnessing to her. Be kind to her. And I will put her on my prayer list,” said Sir Flanders.
“There is always hope in my heart for Tracy,” said Lady Jenny.
“Jenny, I love your outfit,” said Sir Flanders. “Where did you get it?”
“My cowgirl outfit, Flanders?” she asked.
“Yeah!” he said in opening up romance to this fellowship.
“Well, I got the cowgirl hat from the store the Mad Hatter. And I got my ladies’ vest from K-Mart. And I got my blouse from Kohl’s. And I got my skirt from Shopko. And I got my tights from Younker’s. And I got my boots from Penney’s,” summed up Lady Jennifer.
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“Girl, it is all so pretty, just like you are all so pretty,” said Sir Flanders.
“Have I stolen illustrious Sir Flanders’s lonely heart?” asked Lady Jenny.
“I wonder if this is kind of what falling head-over-heels is about with a girl,” he said.
“A lonely woman from De Pere has conquered the mighty Griffin Keeper,” said Lady Jenny.
“What does the world’s only daughter of God think about the world’s only son of God, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders. “Are you carrying a torch for me as I am for you?”
“Let me dare confess to you, Flanders how I feel for you: ‘Still waters run deep.’” she did confess to him her crush for him.
“Would you become my girlfriend-in-the-Lord forever and ever, Jenny?” he asked her the big question.
“I do, Flanders,” she said. “I choose now to become your Fair Lady Guinevere.”
“My most fair and godly Lady Jenny,” he did say. “I promise also to be for now on your own boyfriend-in-the-Lord.
Lady Jenny held out her hands toward him. Sir Flanders reached out his hands toward her. And they clasped hands together and gazed into each other’s eyes and said nothing out loud for a most especial moment of most sweet and innocent romance.
Then they separated their hands. Flanders reached out his left arm toward her right side. Lady Jenny gave her right side to his left arm. He put his arm around her waist. Man and woman leaned their bodies against each other. And she leaned her head against his head. She sighed in magic in her heart. He said an amorous “Yes,” to this first innocent romance.
“What should we do now, Flanders?” asked Lady Jenny.
“We can tell them about our decision,” he said.
“We can tell them how we decided to now be for each other officially ‘boyfriend-and-girlfriend-in-Christ,” she agreed.
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And, their arms around each other’s waists, boyfriend master and girlfriend mistress went out to the backyard to tell their beloved pets the good news.
And griffins and donkey alike most heartily approved.
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CHAPTER XV
“Weeeee!” said Lady Jenny, giddy with joy as she rode Field Martial with Flanders way up in the clouds. “Ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Hold on to your hat, Jenny,” said Sir Flanders. “Field Martial will do a somersault now in the air. And hold on to me, too,”
And she put one hand to her hat and one arm around Flanders’s waist in front of herself, and the griffin made a type of roller coaster spin in the air way high up and came back right side up. “He he he he he!” laughed Lady Jenny. “I am so happy with you, Flanders.”
“Are you enjoying the ride, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Oh, I am. I surely am,” said Lady Jenny. “I never had so much fun before as this, Flanders.”
“Our special rendezvous, Jenny,” said Sir Flanders.
“Your special griffin friend never lets his riders fall,” bragged Lady Jenny on Field Martial.
“Would you like to go just above the clouds now, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Oh, I’d like that,” she sang out in glee. And Field Martial ascended farther up in the skies,
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bringing girlfriend and boyfriend now about the white cumulus clouds. Dizzy and happy, Lady Jenny looked upward, and she said, “Why, it is like outer space is right above my head, ready for me to reach up and touch it with my hand, Flanders!” she did say.
“Would you now like to go just below the clouds, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Yes! Let’s do that!” said Lady Jennifer. And Field Martial descended down to just below the cumulus clouds. And Lady Jenny looked downward and said, “Now it is like the whole world is way down there on the other side of the universe!”
“Are you happy with me as your boyfriend-in-the-Lord, Jenny?” asked Sir Flanders.
“I am, O Flanders. That I surely am,” said Lady Jenny.
“And I am happy with you as my girlfriend-in-the-Lord, O Jenny,” said Sir Flanders.
“Finding you in my life is the second best thing that ever happened to me,” said Lady Jennifer.
Wise in the ways of God as she was, Sir Flanders most understandingly said, “And finding Christ in your life must have been the best thing that ever happened in your life, girl.”
“Yes! Yes!” said Lady Jenny.
“Tell me about it, Jenny,” he said.
“About how I got saved, Flanders?” she asked.
“Uh huh,” he said with a nod.
Eager to tell her own good news of salvation, Lady Jenny took her one hand off of her cowgirl hat up here and put both arms around Sir Flanders’s waist in front of where they sat upon the griffin, and she told him how she had become a born-again Christian hardly one year ago now here in the tribulation:
She was with her best friend Tracy at the time. They were lying upon their backs in the backyard of midnight and staring up into the nighttime sky of this northern hemisphere. Tracy, with her presumptions, sought to begin counting all of the stars up there. Of course, she did not get far, and
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she lost count, and she gave up with a huff. “Blooming stars,” she complained. “Makes it hard for a girl to go count them.”
“So many wonderful stars,” said Lady Jenny.
“What good are they?” asked Lady Tracy.
“There must be a reason for them,” said Lady Jenny.
“I cannot imagine what that would be,” said Lady Tracy.
“Where do you think that they all came from?” asked Lady Jenny.
“From one great big bang, they say,” said Lady Tracy.
“I think, instead, that they were made by a Maker,” said Lady Jenny.
“A maker who made a bang!” joked Lady Tracy in foolish jest.
“Silly girl,” said Lady Jenny. “I think that the stars, instead, came from a Creator Who said, ‘Let there be stars,.’ and, behold, there came stars.”
“Any One Who could do something like that would have to be God, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy, waxing more thoughtful now toward creation.
“It would have to be an all-wise and all-powerful Designer, I would think, Tracy,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Someone with more wisdom and more power than our two new rulers of the world, I would think,” said Lady Tracy in comparison of God to the antichrist and the false prophet.
“A Higher Power with more wisdom and more power than we two girls, Trace,’” said Lady Jennifer.
“Perhaps the Jesus Christ of the Griffin Keeper up north,” said Lady Tracy. “What do you think? No one in this world has so much of God in him than that Griffin Keeper. He’s the most saved man on Earth. The God of that man would be great enough to make all of these stars up there, Jen.’”
“A Maker Who made all the stars and Who made all other things everywhere in Heaven and in
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Earth in the beginning,” said Lady Jennifer.
“I heard it said that that took God six days to do,” said Lady Tracy.
“And on the last day of those six days, I think, God made people,” said Lady Jenny.
“Oh, cool. That must have been when He made us pretty girls and when He made all of those handsome guys,” said Lady Tracy.
“God must have seen what He made and seen it as good,” said Lady Jenny.
“Then why am I here, Jen?’” asked Lady Tracy. “Why are you here, too? What are we two girls here for with all of this creation stuff being created and all?”
“I don’t know. I can’t tell,” said Lady Jenny. “Maybe we people are here to make God look good.”
“Tell me, Jen,’ what are am I supposed to do to make God look good?” asked Lady Tracy. “I do not even know Him any.”
“Well, maybe before we choose to make Him look good, maybe we should take some time to get to know Him first,” conjectured Lady Jenny in searching for eternal truth.
“We are supposed to get to know God?” asked Lady Tracy in incredulity. “He is way up there above the stars, Jen.’ And we are way down here below the sky. No two beings are as far away from each other in this universe than God and mankind.
“Maybe that is what Jesus might be about, Trace,’” said Lady Jennifer.
“People I know told me that Jesus is God, too,” said Lady Tracy.
“This Jesus must be our Mediator between mankind and God the Father,” said Lady Jenny.
“You were saying back then a moment ago that we must first know God before we can make God look good,” said Lady Tracy. “What do you think that you meant by that?”
“I am thinking now as I talk about this with you, that we have to get right with God before we do anything else with God,” said Lady Jennifer.
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“And then to get right with God, you are then getting to know God,” said Lady Tracy in query.
“I think so,” said Lady Jenny.
“I’m not right with God at all,” said Lady Tracy. “I do bad things that I should never have done. And I don’t do good things that I really should have done.”
“I, also, Trace!’” confessed Lady Jenny.
“I heard that the Griffin Keeper goes around and tells people that this Lord Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead three days later,” said Lady Tracy. “The Griffin Keeper said that this happened two thousand years ago in Jerusalem in Israel on a cross and that three days later His tomb was empty.”
“I heard the Griffin Keeper say the same thing, also, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny. “When he told the world that, boy, were the antichrist and the false prophet mad when they heard that. Sir Flanders called that message of his ‘the Gospel.’
“Maybe our sins, Jen,’ were the reason for this Gospel happening like that,” said Lady Tracy.
“Yeah. Yeah,” said Lady Jenny, thinking out loud. “Maybe, Tracy, all we have to do to get right with God is to ask this Jesus to save us from our sins. What do you think?”
“That’s a puzzler, Jenny,” said Lady Tracy.
“Once we ask Jesus to save us, then it follows that He becomes our Saviour. We find God as our personal Saviour, and we at once are made right with the Lord. And because we are now saved and now right with the Lord, we now know the God of the universe, the Creator, personally, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny, her words being inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. “And now reconciled to God, we can then go ahead and glorify Him as we people were meant to. Once all of that happens, then and only then can we people make Jesus look good.”
“Are those kind of people that you are talking so long about called ‘born again believers, Jen?’” asked Lady Tracy.
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“I really think so, Tracy,” said Lady Jennifer.
“What do those believers do that make God look good and make Him happy?” asked Lady Tracy.
“They worship Him,” said Lady Jenny. “That is why God made us girls, Trace,’ and everybody else on this Earth—to become born-again Christians who willingly and humbly and obediently worship Him in His will and in His way.”
“Doing that sounds like a good way to go to Heaven in the life to come, Jen,’” said Lady Tracy.
“Not doing that sounds like a good way to go to Hell, Trace,’” said Lady Jenny.
“But what can I do?” asked Lady Tracy.
“I need to ask my Creator to also now become my Saviour,” said Lady Jenny. “I think that you should do the same, Tracy,”
But Lady Tracy said, “Not I!”
“But I!” declared Lady Jennifer. And there in the dark of midnight, the cowgirl-attired Lady Jenny Jubilee got up and knelt upon her knees and folded her hands and closed her eyes and prayed for the free gift of eternal life: “Dear Maker, Whom I have never thought about until tonight: I see the stars. I understand that there is a God Who created the stars. And I comprehend the Good God Who has made me. I know in my conscience that I am a bad young woman talking to a perfectly Good Lord right now. I confess that I do not yet know You and that I am going to Hell unless I get born again. You love me, God. And You wish for me to go to Heaven instead. I believe now that Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ died on a cross long ago. And believe now that He came back to life three days later. This is the Saviour, and He did these two things for me while I am yet in my sins. You made me. Now I ask You to also save me. In the name of the Son of God and of God the Son. I do ask this. Amen.”
Right after having prayed this prayer for so great salvation, Lady Jenny looked right at Lady
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Tracy, who was now sitting up, and she urged her to do the same with great petition in her eyes. But once again Lady Tracy said, “Not I!”
Lady Jenny got up from her knees before God and sat down beside Lady Tracy. And Lady Jennifer supplicated Lady Tracy with three entreaties, “Would you do it for me? Would you do it for yourself? Would you do it for God?”
Though convicted of her sins and of her need for Jesus and of her eternal destiny as a lost girl, Lady Tracy stood up on her feet, but said nonetheless for a third time this time a most harsh, “Not I!”
And Lady Tracy then left Lady Jennifer here in the back yard and went back into the house to be alone.
Finishing the testimony of her salvation up here in the skies with Sir Flanders and Field Martial, Lady Jenny J. Jubilee said, “That is how I got born again, boyfriend.”
“Glorious! Glorious!” he said in hearty approval.
“And as for Tracy,” said Lady Jennifer, “she has continued to say ‘Not I,’ to God and to myself and to the Word of God every time since that first time a year ago.”
“I’ll be much in prayer for Lady Tracy Westwind, Jenny,” Sir Flanders promised.
“Prayer can do miracles in the Lord,” she said, still hoping for her precious roommate and best friend.
“I must have gotten saved just before you did, girlfriend,” said Sir Flanders.
“Ooo, do tell me how you found Christ, Flanders!” said Lady Jennifer, excited to hear the true tale.
“It all started out when I stood in line at the Marquette County Courthouse to receive the number so I could buy and sell and get by in this life,” he began.
“’Why you could say that you were in line to go to Hell and you ended up going to Heaven instead,” said Lady Jennifer.
“Yes!” said Sir Flanders in earnest affirmation. This number was the number “666” that he
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was in line to get, and God said in His Word the Bible that any and all who received this number were utterly doomed to go to Hell in the life to come and burn forever in the lake of fire and nothing would ever change that from happening.
“The Fifty-First State must not have been there yet, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny.
“Not until the next day,” he said. “On that day I stood in line, Marquette County up there by Lake Superior was still a part of Antichrist’s and False Prophet’s tribulation world. After I got saved, then God created the Fifty-First State and its seven counties.”
“Marquette County and Dickinson County and Menominee County and Iron County and Baraga County and Houghton County and Keweenaw County,” said Lady Jenny the seven counties that had become the Griffin Keeper’s paradise from God that Antichrist and False Prophet could not trespass into. Then she said, “But that would not have happened were you to have gotten the number, O boyfriend,”
“You are right there, too, O Jenny,” he said in enlightenment. “God really is good.”
“So how did you get out of taking the number ‘666?’ Flanders?” she asked.
“A seagull from God came to me,” he said. “I was standing in line at the end for the longest time, and no one came behind me in this line, and suddenly this seagull came upon my shoulder from behind and startled the wits out of me. I looked and there he was, a note in his beak just for me. I had heard about God’s seagulls like this, but I never had one come to me or to anyone else I knew, Jenny. I went ahead to take the note and did read from God, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.’ I hardly considered myself a ‘mighty man’ or a ‘man of valor,’ Jenny. I was in this line so that I could have a way to keep eating and paying my rent and continue existing in this world in its darkest hour.
The number would guarantee me that these needs would be met. Then the seagull flew off away in the direction opposite of the courthouse and lighted in a branch of the nearest tree. He was bidding me to follow him. I left the line and came up to him in this tree. He then flew off in this direction away from
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this line once again on to the next farthest tree and lighted in its branch, too. I came up to him at this second tree. And he flew off to a third tree away from the people back there, and I followed him to this third tree. And he did the same for me with a fourth tree. And then I followed him to a fifth tree. And in this manner did this seagull of God lead me away from ever going back to get that number of damnation. And when he guided me to the end of my journey, I stood at the base of a mountain that must surely have been a good two thousand feet high, Jenny. Then he flew off to serve the Good Lord in another mission as messenger, and he was with me no more.
I looked up at the snow-capped top of this mountain, myself not knowing what I was supposed to do now. I asked Up toward Heaven, ‘What do You will for me here, O God?’ I had never prayed to God before that, Jenny. I cannot remember having asked the Lord for something before that. And I heard the voice of an angel that called down from the mountain top, saying to me, ‘Come up, O mighty man of valor.’ Why, I was supposed to climb this mountain! I was no mountain climber. How does a guy like myself go and climb a mountain like this? Nevertheless I sought to go and do just exactly what the angel of God told me to do. I climbed a tentative two feet, and I fell one foot. I then climbed a less experimental four feet, and then I fell two feet. Next I surely climbed six feet, only to fall three feet. After this, I steadily climbed eight feet, but this time I fell four feet. Determined, I certainly climbed a good ten feet; but then I fell five feet. My body was sore and tired and wounded. But I fought that mountain for the God of this angel who bade me to come up. And in the end, I did climb up onto the flat apex of this little mountain in Upper Michigan. And I stood there. And behold, the angel who was up there waiting for me who had called me. It was a Good White Dragon. And he said to me, ‘I am Archangel Michael. Well done, O mighty man of valor. As you fought for God against yourself in climbing this mountain, you shall fight for God against demons in battles on the battlefields.’
‘I am called of God to fight devils, O Good White Dragon?’ I asked Michael in dissent.
And the Good White Dragon said to me, ‘I am sent of God to bring you to a saving knowledge
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of the Lord Jesus Christ.’
‘I am to become a born-again Christian, O Good White Dragon?’ I asked the angel.
‘Good Flanders,’ the angel Michael said to me, ‘before you can serve God as His Christian soldier, first you must become a Christian.’
‘I was never a believer in Christ before,’ I told the Good White Dragon in some shame.
‘Before one can get a person saved, one needs to get that person to know that he is lost,’ said the Good White Dragon.
‘I must surely be now the most lost person in the world,’ I told Michael.
And he told me, ‘You will soon be the most saved person in the world, Sir Flanders.’
‘Good White Dragon, teach me what I need to know to become this born-again believer who fights the demons.’
And Michael began his work as an angel who witnessed of Jesus to a man, indeed a rare and unusual ministry for any angel of God. The Good White Dragon began, saying to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:15. Do you believe this?’
“I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
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Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me ‘Son of man, it is written, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” John 6:47. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” I John 2:22-23, Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
I John 4:9-10. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written, “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” I John 4:14-15. Do you believe this?’
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‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me,’Son of man, it is written, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” I John 5:11-12. Do you believe this?’
‘I believe,’ I said.
Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, it is written thus, ‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” I John 5:13. Do you believe this?’
‘I do believe this, O Good White Dragon,’ I said to Michael the archangel.
‘O son of God to be,’ he went on to tell me, ‘do you understand God’s plan of salvation from these Scripture verses?’
‘I do,’ I said to the great angel.
‘Tell me,’ he said to me then.
And I summarized the plan of salvation with my newfound wisdom: ‘I was born into this life as a sinner. And I am sinner by nature and a sinner by choice. Because of all of my sins, I have to pay for them by burning in Hell for forever after in the life to come. But God looked down upon me, and He saw me as a helpless sheep without a Shepherd. He is a God of compassion and mercy and grace. And, even though I am unclean and unholy and wicked, He still loves me anyway. He does not want me to go to Hell. He wants me to go to Heaven. And He sent His Son to Earth to pay my price for my own sins. This Son is the Lord Jesus, and He died in my place on the cross of Calvary. His much shed perfect blood redeemed my soul to the uttermost. This terrible crucifixion of the Saviour happened two thousand years ago. Then, three days later, He arose from the grave! His tomb in the rocks was empty.
And witnesses saw Him walking about, alive again. This is the Resurrection, Hence the true celebration of Easter, the miracle of miracles. Christ is still the living Saviour today, two thousand
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years later. These two events—His death on the cross and His rising again from the dead—are collectively called “the Gospel.” And the Gospel is called ‘the good news.’ It saves souls of men and women and boys and girls. It proves that salvation is free and that it cannot be bought or paid for or earned. It makes eternal life a free gift to all who call upon the name of God thereby. It guarantees everlasting life to all true born again Christians throughout all of this Earth. And it is the most powerful and wise and spiritual message of all messages in all of history. As the saying goes, O Good White Dragon,”Jesus saves!”’
‘Well said, O son of God very soon to be,’ said the Good White Dragon. ‘All that you now need to do to get saved is to pray to God, tell Him what you have just told me, and tell it to God in all due sincerity and humbleness and faith.’
And that I did do, Jenny. I prayed the sinners’ prayer. And God heard me. And this was what I said: ‘Dear God, Who is in Heaven: I am a sinner with much sin every day for my eighteen years of life. I ask You, if You would, to forgive me for all of them. I am so sorry, Lord. I confess to You now that Your Son willingly died for me because of what I did wrong. And I also confess to You now that this same Jesus rose from the grave and that He is a living God today Who can still save souls. I call upon You right now and ask You to become my own personal Saviour and to give me everlasting life with You Up in Heaven Above in my time to come. In Christ Jesus’s name I do pray this. Amen.’
After I finished my prayer of conversion, the Good White Dragon said to me, ‘Well prayed, O son of God, you have just become a born-again believer.’
I then said, ‘What would God have me to do for him now that I am a Christian, O Good White Dragon?’
And Michael the archangel told me mysteriously, ‘Sir Flanders, you shall wield the LongSpear for God.’
And I remembered that I was being called to fight demons for my ministry to the Lord Jesus.
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After having said this, Michael said last words to me on this mountain top, ‘Tomorrow you shall see God, and He shall tell you all that you will need to know. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8.’ Then the Good White Dragon lifted up into the skies and ascended into the Heaven of Heavens to be with God at His throne once again.”
Thus Sir Flanders finished telling the testimony of his salvation to Lady Jennifer up here in the sky on Field Martial’s back above Brown County.
“Praise the Lord!” said Lady Jenny. “Praise God!”
“Amen and amen!” concurred Sir Flanders.
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CHAPTER XVI
Sir Flanders was alone with Lady Jenny on her front porch swing just inside her house, talking about God in fellowship and toward each other as flirts. He let her hold his LongSpear in her hands, it resting upon both of their laps and beyond the width of the porch swing and right up against the walls to both sides.
Just then the sentinel Chief of Staff came in upon them with most dire news, and he said unto them, “Behold, O Master, a hurricane from the north is coming right here. Shall I carry you two away from the path of the storm?”
The Griffin Keeper stood up from the porch swing and said, “This is none other than the rider on the white unicorn and his white unicorn coming in the air as a prince of the power of the air. He comes to me for a final confrontation between the two of us. Sound an alarm!” Chief of Staff sounded an alarm from his beak.
Just then the sentry Captain of the Guard came in in exigency, and he said, “Master, take heed!
A great fire upon the ground like a conflagration is sweeping the countryside from the west and it is
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burning up everything and will quickly come upon the house. Shall I carry you two to the safety of the lake?”
To this Sir Flanders stepped out into the doorway that opened out to the front stoop, and he said, “This is none other than the rider on the red unicorn and his red unicorn coming upon the ground as the god of this world. He seeks revenge unto death against me. And death shall come to one of the two of us—him or me. Prepare for battle!!” And this griffin prepared for battle.
Just then the watchman Sergeant of Arms came in unto them here and he did proclaim bad news, saying, “Master, lo, an earthquake from the east is breaking up the ground below. It is coming toward us now as I speak. I bid you and your girlfriend to come out of the house and stand where it is safe outside.”
In fear, Lady Jenny came up to Sir Flanders and held his arm in both of hers to his side as they stood outside now upon the front stoop. After hearing this latest news, the Griffin Keeper said, “This is nothing other than the rider on the black unicorn and his black unicorn. His hooves do break up the ground with quakes when he does gallop. They come from the prince of darkness now to vanquish me out of God’s Earth. But they may be the ones who get vanquished. Let us remain outside now and await them, too.”
Just then in came Field Martial, the chief griffin, and he had more tidings of evil things to come.
He said, “Master, woe, from the south comes a mighty tornado destroying everything in its path, and it is on a straight course to right here where you and good Lady Jenny are standing. I bid you and the gal go inside and to the basement, and you might live.”
Lady Jenny gasped and put both of her arms around Sir Flanders’s shoulders. To this, Sir Flanders said, “This is none other than the rider on the pale unicorn and his pale unicorn. They come to do battle and take away my head and to take away Jenny’s head.” Having said this, the Griffin Keeper stepped down the cement steps and stood upon Lady Jenny’s sidewalk like a mighty stone fortress, and
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he said to the four directions, “Come and get me, O unicornmen and unicorns of the Apocalypse! With my LongSpear and with my griffins of griffins, God shall strike you eight demons down! You cannot fight against God and live!” And the godly and mighty Christian soldier raised his LongSpear in the air to the charging forces of evil converging now toward him from afar where he stood.
Lady Jenny came up to him where he was standing, and she said, “I am afraid. But I shall fight with you, Flanders.”
“This war is not for women, Jenny,” he told her. “These four manifestations of these four storms will cease once they get here. And when that happens, they shall return to their real manifestations of demon men and demon unicorns. You must seek shelter in the house at once. No hurricane, no fire, no earthquake, and no tornado shall be here to hurt you in the house. But a unicornman and his unicorn can hurt you out here. I command you in love to go and seek shelter in the most inner room of your basement. And I beg of you to do it quickly, O my dear Jenny.”
Submitting to Sir Flanders’s authority as the man, the woman Jenny Jubilee said to him, “As Sarai obeyed her husband Abram, calling him, ‘lord,’ I shall obey you as a girlfriend calling her boyfriend, ‘master.’” And Lady Jennifer quickly ran back into the house and down the basement, and she quickly began most effectual fervent intercessory prayer for the Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins, herself alone with the Holy Spirit in the basement.
Winds of war coming upon the Griffin Keeper now where he stood with his four chief griffins, he declared, “Behold all of my griffins coming from afar in answer to the alarm! Here comes Troop!
I see Centurion lighting upon the yard. Ah, good Cavalry is here for me now. And there is Brigade ever faithful there in the grass and ready for battle. And here is Galleon in answer to the alarm. And I see now here Fortress. And, good friend Bulwark, you have come now. And here is Infantry at my side again in battle. Good and valiant griffins of griffins, let us war for the cause of Christ now once again.
God shall surely fight for us and with us.” And all twelve formidable griffins were gathered together
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before their keeper here in Lady Jennifer’s front yard.
And Sir Flanders said final words to them before this battle of culmination came upon them: “Allies, comrades, friends, griffins all, for six thousand years of this Earth of creation in its great history, good and evil have fought each other. The Devil has been at war with the Lord thus ever since
God had created mankind and put him in the Garden of Eden. Lucifer has convinced one-third of God’s angels to join him in his rebellion against Almighty God. These are the demons. And they bring evil and temptation and deception to mankind and womankind and chlldrenkind. I believe that Satan’s foremost demons in this tribulation earth are the unicornmen and their unicorns who come after us now.
And this battle that we fight this day, with God’s good fighting Satan’s evil, shall be the last such battle of its kind. We forces for good may all perish in this final battle. Yet, even if the Griffin Keeper and his griffins all fall in battle, our God will still have the victory. Who can stand against God Almighty?
Let us play the soldiers for God. And to God be the glory, whether in our victory or in our defeat. Amen?”
“Amen!” boomed twelve redoubtable griffins.
A silent moment passed. Then the Griffin Keeper said, “Look to the north.”
The twelve griffins looked to the north. And they saw in the air the rider on his white unicorn and his white winged unicorn coming toward them with resolution and determination upon his potentate features. A silver crown was again on his head. And he again had a bow in his left hand. And he had a quiver along his back again. But this time his quiver was full of arrows. These arrows were white, almost transparent, where they were gathered in there. And Sir Flanders commenced battle, himself leaping upon his chief griffin’s back and saying, “Take me up, Field Martial.” And Field Martial ascended into the sky and brought Sir Flanders to the same elevation now as the rider of the white unicorn. Antichrist the rider drew an arrow from his quiver, nocked it on his bowstring, and fired it at the Griffin Keeper. The Griffin Keeper swung his LongSpear where he was sitting, and he easily
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batted the arrow off to the side with it. And yet it was like Sir Flanders had struck air. This arrow seemed almost without substance. It seemed spiritual and not physical. Flanders had never fought against such arrows as this. The rider on the white unicorn then nocked another arrow and fired that one, too. It missed Sir Flanders. But it struck Field Martial.
“I’m hit, Master,” said Field Martial. “I think.”
“Are you okay, friend?” asked the Griffin Keeper.
“I feel okay, Master. It was like nothing impaled me,” said Field Martial in puzzlement.
“I never heard of an arrow that did not hurt,” said Sir Flanders.
Then the rider on the white unicorn fired arrows down upon the three watchmen griffins yet down upon the ground.. But all three were clean misses, all three arrows hitting the ground and for some reason dissolving into nothingness where they stuck fast.
“I have never seen such a thing happen to arrows before,” said Sir Flanders.
Then Field Martial spoke and said, “Master, did you know that there are mistakes in the King James Bible?”
“Curse your blasphemy, O Field Martial!” rebuked the Griffin Keeper of the Lord. “What got into you to speak such lies as that, griffin? What spirit provoked your tongue thus with that utterance?”
Field Martial did not respond. And his aquiline face did not show any treachery in its features.
Field Martial never said or thought anything like this before.
Sir Flanders looked to antichrist on his white winged unicorn. And on the rider’s face exuded gloating and slyness in his features. That strange empty arrow that had struck Field Martial and then turned to nothing had done this to the great griffin.. Antichrist’s little arrows were the lies of antichrist penetrating the heart and soul and mind of godly men and griffins. Field Martial now believed the Devil and not the Lord.
Field Martial then said, “Master, don’t you rather think that maybe the King James Bible is
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more than a little outdated?”
“Fallen soldier, it grieves me to hear you say such things,” said the Griffin Keeper, fearing that Field Martial might never be the same anymore.
Then the rider on the white unicorn began to come down toward the other griffins, not wanting to wait for Sir Flanders to command his griffins to come up. Antichrist wanted a good easy shot at them and did not want to miss again with his arrows of doubt.
Flanders said in battle commands, “Field Martial, descend and intercept!” Field Martial was to go down with the antichrist and give Flanders a clear shot at the demon world ruler with his LongSpear.
And to the Griffin Keeper’s encouragement, though his griffin doubted God’s truths, his griffin did not doubt his master’s orders. Field Martial swooped down upon the white unicorn and bumped into him hard fifteen feet above ground. And at ten feet above ground, the rider fell right off of his white unicorn and landed hard upon the earth on his back. Antichrist lay there in a daze for a moment. His crown was fallen off of his head and lay there off to the side on its edge. His bow was loosed from his left hand and lying upon the ground beyond his reach. And his quiver was torn off of his shoulders and lying just above his head in a heap. And all of his spiritual arrows were scattered about, all spilled out of his quiver. For the first time since he conquered the world, antichrist now looked vulnerable.
The Griffin Keeper took a quick look at Field Martial, and Field Martial said more Devil’s words, saying, “Besides, Master, I don’t understand all of those ‘thou’s’ and ‘thee’s’ and ‘thy’s’ and ‘thine’s’ in the King James Bible. People don’t talk that way anymore. It’s hard to understand the King James Version.”
Turning back to the sprawled and stunned rider of the white unicorn, the Griffin Keeper commanded his eleven other griffins, “Slay the antichrist right now where he lies!”
And the eleven well griffins pounced upon the rider of the white unicorn and slew him where he lay. And the antichrist perished in battle.
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Too late, the white unicorn rushed forward to try to rescue his master. But the eleven griffins grabbed a hold of him and pinned him to the ground. The Griffin Keeper came up to the white unicorn, his LongSpear in both hands, and he drove his LongSpear once down into the white unicorn where he could not get up. And the infamous white unicorn was instantly slain in battle.
Then Sir Flanders turned apprehensively to his best friend, and he dared to ask, “Field Martial, where do you stand on the King James Version Bible?”
And with verity and sincerity and frankness, Field Martial went on to declare, “Master, the King James Bible is the only perfect Bible of all the translations out there in the English language. It is plenary. It is God-breathed. It is the Book indeed written by God Himself. It is just right for today and for all days before and after. It has no mistakes. It is not outdated. And it is written at a fourth grade reading level. It is God’s love letter to mankind.”
In jubilation and great relief, the Griffin Keeper said, “To God be the great praise that I have in my heart for such words coming from you now, O beloved Field Martial!” Both the rider and his white unicorn had to die in order for Antichrist’s arrow to lose its power over the griffin. And the first battle of this day was done. And it was a victory in Christ to the uttermost.
The Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins, all well now and strong in Christ braced themselves for the next battle. The Griffin Keeper then said, “Look to the west.” And all thirteen turned toward the west.
Behold, the rider on the red unicorn and his red unicorn charging like two juggernauts in toward where the army of good awaited him. The rider War was swinging his saber about to try to cause discord among Sir Flanders and his troops. And the red unicorn was shooting fires out of his mouth erratically and wildly and all about as he charged.
Raising his LongSpear to defend himself, the Griffin Keeper commenced to give battle commands to his griffins, massing his troops to the glory of God: “Chief of Staff, grab the rider’s right
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sword arm at the wrist as he comes by. Sergeant of Arms, in like grab War’s left sword arm at the wrist
when he switches hands with his sword. The sword will fall from the rider’s hands. Captain of the Guard, when that happens, pounce upon the sword and grab it up and fly away with it in all speed and do not look back. Troop, Galleon, Brigade, while the rider is occupied with the three guards of the griffins, go and distract the red unicorn in this skirmish and cause him to shoot out fires anywhere and everywhere and inaccurately, and stay out of this fire. Field Martial, while all of this is going on, and War and his red unicorn are temporarily confused, grab a good hard hold on the rider and do carry him up off of his red unicorn and carry War to a hundred feet off the ground and then let him fall. Cavalry, Centurion, Fortress, when the red unicorn is all emptied of his fires for a moment, and he will run out of fires for a while if he keeps up his strategy for war, then charge in upon him and fight battle with him where he stands. He will be at a loss with his rider not on his back and not giving battle commands. Bulwark, Infantry, when the time is right and you see bewilderment upon the red unicorn’s features, then fly in upon him and grab him and lift him up and carry him to fifty feet above ground and drop him to his death. I command you twelve good warriors for Christ, ‘Spread out and make ready and fight for Jesus!’”
This battle strategy order long, and the red unicorn very fast in gallop, the Griffin Keeper barely had enough time to raise his LongSpear above his shoulders before War and his red unicorn crashed hard right into Sir Flanders’s chest where he stood. The Griffin Keeper was knocked hard backwards a good ten feet. He landed upon the back of his head against a rock. And he lay there semi-conscious.
He still held his LongSpear securely in both hands. But he was neither getting back up nor moving nor aware.
At first the griffins were at a loss. They had never fought a battle without their master faithfully and strategically massing them for battle every moment of every battle. The next “officer of the line,”
Field Martial, temporarily assumed command. And Field Martial gave orders in this unique crisis:
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“Fellow griffins, it behooves us to do as our keeper has said for us to do.”
And the rider on the red unicorn and his red unicorn, having struck the first blow in this battle, then turned toward the remaining troops of God to strike more blows in this battle.
Chief of Staff flew in upon War and grabbed his right sword wrist in his great eagle beak and began to bite down into the rider’s flesh of wrist. He heard the breaking of little bones in this wrist that held the sword. As predicted the rider on the red unicorn adeptly switched hands, his well left hand grabbing his saber from his now bad right hand. War was equally deadly in inflicting sword wounds with his left hand as he was with his right hand. And as soon as the rider had done this, Sergeant of Arms swooped in unto him in the air and grabbed his left sword wrist in both eagle claws. This griffin then squeezed hard with his talons and gashed this wrist into a bloody crushing. And War was forced to drop his sword. And his great and terrible saber fell to the ground without its holder. Right after this, Captain of the Guard swooped down in the air and did pounce upon it with his griffin form and did grab up in his lion paws. And before rider and unicorn could do anything, this griffin flew off with this sword as quickly as he could. And he did not stop to look back. And he kept on flying till he was far away from the battlefield. Then he dropped it where the rider could never find it again. And he began to fly back toward the battlefield. Meanwhile, chaos came upon the army of evil. The rider no longer had his sword in battle for his first time. And his unicorn was utterly bewildered. And the griffins, with most strategic battle commands from their fallen leader now temporarily taken out of the war, were winning this battle without the Griffin Keeper cognizant and without the Griffin Keeper throwing his LongSpear. But then War gave forth a battle command to his red unicorn. “Use your unicorn horn.”
The red unicorn looked to him with most manifest understanding. “Yes, O red unicorn,” said the rider.
“Use your unicorn horn and go and run it through Sir Flanders’s right and left spear wrists, where he now lies holding his LongSpear.”
A deathly collective gasp came upon the less mighty griffins at such an atrocity threatened
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upon their fallen keeper. But Field Martial did not flinch. And he commanded his troops for now,”Fellow griffins, we must carry out the rest of our master’s stated battle commands as they were spoken to us.”
And in obedience, Troop and Galleon and Brigade on the ground charged the red unicorn who was coming up to the Griffin Keeper with his unicorn horn about to come down upon him. And Troop smashed into the red unicorn’s left side, and Galleon smashed into the red unicorn’s right side, and Brigade smashed into the red unicorn’s front side all at once. And the red unicorn was discomfited and thrown down upon his back quarters. The red unicorn was now upon his haunches, but War was still seated upon the red unicorn’s back. War, bleeding profusely, commanded now, “Fires en masse, red unicorn!” And the red unicorn unleashed a barrage of fires from his equine mouth where he sat. And the griffins scattered about in the air, and, by the grace of God, none got all burned up. Then the red unicorn ran out of fires from within. Then Field Martial did his duty as given by his master, and he swooped down upon the rider on his red unicorn, grabbed him up in his eagle claws and in his lion paws, and did lift him up and off of the red unicorn. War was now at Field Martial’s mercy. And this battle allowed not for mercy. And Field Martial ascended high up in the sky with mighty War in his vise-like grip. And at once Cavalry and Centurion and Fortress swooped in upon the now helpless red unicorn and forced him to the ground. And he could do nothing now to hurt them. And, as commanded, then Bulwark and Infantry marched up to the fallen red unicorn, grabbed a good hold upon him, and carried him high up into the sky as well..
One hundred feet above ground, the griffin of griffins released the rider of the red unicorn, and War did fall to the ground to his death. Fifty feet above the ground, the two other griffins let fall the red unicorn to the ground, and he died, also, when he struck the Earth. And then the griffin who had carried away the sword had now come back.
Behold, the Griffin Keeper standing up on his feet and leaning upon his LongSpear for balance
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alive and well and regaining his senses. His troops rallied around him and formed a circle around him and gave praise and thanks to God. And Sir Flanders looked around at the battlefield about him. And he said, “Very well done! You have all honored our God in my daze. We have now won our second battle of the day. Praise Christ the Lord!”
“Praise Jesus!” all twelve griffins cheered.
Then the Griffin Keeper said to them, “Let us look now to the south.” And all looked off to the south. Lo, standing there nonchalantly was the black unicorn, his rider sitting upon his black unicorn nonchalantly. Rider and flack unicorn were not even ten feet away, and they contemptuously had their sides to the griffin army and their master. And Famine and Drought showed off his balance scale in both hands, one dish lower than the other. In the raised dish was a white stone with black letters reading “Twelve mighty griffins.” In the lowered dish was a black stone with white letters reading, “Famine and Drought.” In a novel strategy, the Griffin Keeper hurled his LongSpear right in upon the stone for the griffins in the raised dish of the balances. And his LongSpear most accurately struck this powerful little stone and did break it up into many impotent pieces that scattered all about and spilled over onto the ground. Well-trained, Field Martial quickly flew up to where the LongSpear fell and picked it up and brought it back to his master. Yet, undaunted, the rider went on to reach into his one saddlebag and took out another white stone and set that back in the dish, and the dish did not go down.
This stone said the same thing, “Twelve mighty griffins.” Altering his tactics, the Griffin Keeper again hurled his LongSpear, this time at the other stone, the one with the name of the rider on the black unicorn. And again the LongSpear struck and cleft this one stone of force into many little fragments of no force, the fragments spilling onto the ground and all about the rider and his black unicorn. And the balance scale tipped now in the favor of the army of God. On cue, Field Martial went and retrieved the LongSpear and brought it back to his master. But, once again, Famine and Drought reached into his saddlebag—the other saddlebag this time, and he pulled out an identical stone to this one that just got
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broken up. His stone with his name he did put in its dish, and his pair of balances again now tipped in disfavor to Sir Flanders and his griffins.
“I do not feel so well, Master,” said one of the griffins. And the eleven other griffins said likewise.
Seeking a previous war strategy, the Griffin Keeper next threw his LongSpear right toward the balance scales themselves where the rider of the black unicorn was holding them up in his right hand.
Bullseye! The LongSpear struck Famine and Drought’s pair of balances with the strength of God. The supernatural balance scales broke up into most natural splinters of wood and broken links of little iron chains and bent aluminum plates. To his dismay, the rider on the black unicorn beheld his devastated weapon rendered harmless now to his enemy. And Famine and Drought cried out, “My balances! My balances! They’re all broken up! They’re all broken up!”
“A ha!” said Sir Flanders hastily.
Field Martial once again thought to go and retrieve his master’s LongSpear where it ended up.
But this time, the gargantuan black unicorn stepped out in front of him and would not let him pass by to get at that LongSpear so troublesome to his rider. Why, even this griffin of griffins looked not so formidable now as he stood before this unicorn of unicorns. And Field Martial turned back to his master and awaited his new battle orders. Flanders had to pause and think.
Then the rider on the black unicorn reached into his saddlebags and he pulled something else out of them. Why, it was a whole other pair of balances, just like the one that got broken up! And the rider said to Sir Flanders, “A ha!”
Finding tactics now for this new circumstance, the Griffin Keeper called out to his troops, “Field Martial, keep the black unicorn occupied and stay away from his unicorn horn! Chief of Staff, go and rip up the left saddlebag! Captain of the Guard, go and rip up the right saddlebag! Sergeant of Arms, swoop in upon the rider and distract him and keep him from grabbing anything as the saddlebags
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spill out onto the ground! You other eight griffins, do all grab onto the diamond unicorn horn of the black unicorn and do not let go! As for myself, I must grab that pair of balances away from Famine and Drought, even if I have to do so with my bare hands.
And the army of God did thus against the two of Satan. All twelve griffins did as they were commanded. Field Martial stood there enticing the black unicorn to swing his unicorn horn about toward Field Martial, himself most adroitly dodging and evading this unicorn horn of unicorn horns with every assault. The three guards of the griffins did slash up and tear open both saddlebags and did make to empty onto the ground all the white stones and all the black stones and did keep the rider from grabbing any of them as they poured out. And the other eight griffins did all grab a firm hold of that diamond unicorn horn unlike any other and they held on tightly. Then Sir Flanders ran up to the rider on the black unicorn from the side, leaped up at him where he held his balance scale, and did quite knock him down off of his black unicorn. Famine and Drought dropped his balance scale in his fall. And he got back up and grabbed a hold upon Sir Flanders’s throat in both hands. And Sir Flanders grabbed his throat in both hands in reprisal. And the two men began to choke each other where they stood.
Meanwhile the black unicorn was winning in his test of strength against the eight strong griffins. And the griffins were forced from being airborne to being grounded. And some of the griffins were wounded in this battle within the battle. Then the rider collapsed to the ground from the Griffin Keeper’s choke hold. And the first thing that the Griffin Keeper did was to run up to the nasty balance scale, and to break it over his knee, and to toss it with vengeance back upon the ground, this replacement weapon of Famine and Drought quite broken up now for good, just like the first one of this battle earlier. And the second thing that the Griffin Keeper did was to run back up to his LongSpear and to pick it up in the Lord, and to come back for more battle.
And Sir Flanders gave more orders to his soldiers for Christ: “You eight griffins, let go now of
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the unicorn horn. Flank left. Flank right. I need a clear shot now at his horn for myself with God’s LongSpear.” The eight unicorns did as he said and got out of the way for their master to carry out his plan. The black unicorn, his self now released, then lowered his unicorn horn and charged the Griffin Keeper unabated where the Griffin Keeper stood, the LongSpear ready for its throw. And Sir Flanders hurled his LongSpear at the invincible black unicorn’s horn. But he hurled it not at the horn itself, but instead at the horn where it did begin upon the forehead. Lo, the LongSpear struck its mark with the wisdom and with the power of the Lord. And a conclusive sound of explosion deafened the ears of all about here on this battlefield for a moment. And when their hearing came back to their ears, there lay the black unicorn, his redoubtable unicorn horn broken most completely off of his head by the LongSpear. And the world’s strongest animal was in deed now quite dead. The rider, squatting feebly nearby and regaining his breath, saw this happen. And he struggled, got back to his feet, and tried to run away from battle. “Strike him down where he flees, Field Martial,” commanded the Griffin Keeper. And Field Martial chased him down on foot, pounced upon him from behind, and struck him down dead at once.
The battle was done. The thirteen Christian soldiers looked about this battlefield to take in what had just occurred. The rider of the black unicorn and his black unicorn had fallen in battle. And Sir Flanders declared, “Our God has given us now our third victory over evil of this day.”
And the twelve griffins of good rang out in a chorus, “Thank You, God!”
And then the Griffin Keeper in like also said, “Thank You, God.”
Then Sir Flanders proclaimed now to his troops, “Look now to the east.” And the thirteen looked eastward now.
Behold, Death riding a pale unicorn in a steady and confident canter coming toward them.
None spake a word as the rider on the pale unicorn approached them as their greatest foes of this day. Good did not say a word. Evil did not say a word. Then the two stopped in front of the
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thirteen and looked at them. The Griffin Keeper broke the silence, saying, “You have come back for me, O Death.” But Death could see in Sir Flanders’s eyes that Sir Flanders was not disadvantaged with pride this time around. And Death betrayed a subtle mortality of himself now in his features as he looked upon the Griffin Keeper now so filled up with the Holy Spirit of God. And the rider on the pale unicorn betrayed a hidden trembling in his knees along both sides of his pale unicorn that only the Griffin Keeper discerned.
Then Death gave orders for battle unto his pale unicorn, saying, “Summon Hell, my familiar.”
And as all the griffins and their master watched and listened, the pale unicorn gave forth twelve discordant blasts upon his unicorn horn, one after another, a demon from Hell coming up out of the earth from beneath after each blast. And before the army of God knew what to do, twelve fiends stood there ready to fight for the pale unicorn and his master. And right after these imps came up out of Hell, Death called out to them, “Attack the soldiers of God!” And the demons rushed forward with the force of supernatural evil.
In reprisal, the Griffin Keeper called forth to his twelve griffins, “Every griffin to one demon!”
And the twelve griffins took on the twelve unclean spirits, one specific griffin to one specific demon one-on-one.
Then the rider on the pale unicorn dismounted amid this tumult as Sir Flanders plotted his role in this battle. And Death reached into one of the saddlebags of his pale unicorn and pulled out the deadly scythe. And then Death reached into the other one of his saddlebags and pulled out the damning sickle. And he held his scythe in his right hand. And he held his sickle in his left hand. And he began to swing them both about with both of his arms at once as easily as a soldier could swing one weapon about in one hand. Then Death said in bravado unto the fearless and godly Griffin Keeper, “Come and get it, Sir Flanders. Your choice—first death or second death.” “First death” referred to the death that funerals were for. And “second death” in the Bible referred to burning in the lake of fire.
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Yet Sir Flanders calmly rebuked the rider of the pale unicorn, declaring, “It is written, O Death, ‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.’ I Corinthians 15:26.”
To this Death gave rebuttal with doubt in his voice now, saying, “Griffin Keeper, shall I command my pale unicorn to summon another dozen demons from Hell with more blasts from his unicorn horn?”
“Rider, your pale unicorn is able to summon a maximum of twelve demons in any one battle,” said Sir Flanders.
“A mortal soldier like any of your griffins cannot slay an immortal demon from Hell brought up by my pale unicorn,” said Death.
Just then there arose a raucous shriek in the midst of this battle all around. Everybody looked to see what happened, and, lo, a demon fallen in battle. And Field Martial had his eagle claws standing upon him where he lay. “I did it, Master,” called forth Field Martial. “I killed a demon!”
And Flanders gave reply to Death in what he had just said, “Whether that demon is dead, maybe, or whether that demon is returned to Hell, maybe. But he is certainly not coming back in this battle anymore, O rider on the pale unicorn.”
And Field Martial, his job done, now came up to the Griffin Keeper’s side to confront Death with him.
Death then said, “Griffin Keeper, I do not acknowledge this griffin watching me with his eyes.”
To this, Field Martial said, “Nor do I wish to look upon evil in its most diabolical unicornman, O grim reaper.”
Just then three more hideous screams emanated from this battlefield and did echo across the horizon. Everybody looked. Behold, three more fiends slain in battle, the three watchmen of the griffins standing upon one demon each.
Sir Flanders said, “Death, it looks like you have lost a few troops.”
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And Death snapped back, “To the Devil with you, O Griffin Keeper!”
To this Sir Flanders said, “I cannot go to the Devil as you will. But I will come Home to God someday.”
And the three guards of the griffins, their job in this battle also finished, now also came up to Flanders’s side in confrontation of the rider.
Death stammered now, “I will get you for this!”
Just then eight more wails as of banshees pierced the battlefield in the midst of battle all around. Everybody looked. And there lay eight more little devils all fallen in battle. Each of the eight slain demons were sprawled under the remaining eight conqueror-griffins standing over them, one on one.
In desperation, Death said, “I am still the greatest killer the world has ever seen!”
The eight griffins, who had just finished their job, now came up to be with Flanders to also confront the rider on the pale unicorn. Now Death stood nearly alone against the Griffin Keeper and his twelve griffins. His pale unicorn named Hell was off to the side of the action, making desperate blasts with his unicorn horn, but unable to bring up any more devils from beneath.
Sir Flanders now responded to Death’s declaration, “You serve the god of death, O rider of the pale unicorn. But I serve the God of life.”
“Would that I could kill Him!” cursed Death.
In seething righteous indignation upon hearing this blasphemy, the Griffin Keeper said more gravely at this sacrilegious demon, “That, most nefarious Death, you ought to have never dared uttered before me.”
The Griffin Keeper then raised his LongSpear from God, and in both hands he thrust it in toward the chest of the rider of the pale unicorn. In quick reflexes Death swung his scythe in his right hand toward his left and swung his sickle in his left hand toward his right. In so doing the rider sought to deflect the LongSpear from its mark. But the soldier of God was quicker than was the soldier of
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Satan. The LongSpear passed between the two converging blades of scythe and sickle in front of Death’s self. The LongSpear impaled Death through his chest. And the LongSpear came out of Death’s back very far. And the rider of the pale unicorn fell down the most dead of any of the fallen demons of the four battles on this day. The scythe was still in his right hand, and the sickle was still in his left hand. But the body was quite slain. Standing up upon the deceased Death, Sir Flanders pulled his LongSpear out of the demonic corpse.
Sir Flanders’s back turned to the helpless pale unicorn in this last business with Death, the possessed pale unicorn did charge him from behind, his unicorn horn aimed for Flanders’s middle back. But Field Martial pounced upon the pale unicorn from behind like a lion and did tear him up like an eagle. And the pale unicorn fell dead in battle beside his master. “Thank you, O my best friend,” said the master to his griffin compatriot.
The fourth battle of the day was done. And all the battles were finished this day. And much had just happened here this day in the front yard of Lady Jenny Jubilee. In silence and reflection and thought-prayers of praises and thanksgivings, the thirteen Christian soldiers walked about this type of Armageddon here in De Pere, Wisconsin. This was the last war between good and evil. Good had won for forever. Evil had lost for forever. Jesus was coming now very soon. The Second Coming was imminent. Nothing more had to happen before the Second Advent of Christ.
Then Lady Jenny came out of her house. She came up to her boyfriend, saw all that had happened all spread out before her, and wondered most greatly. And she said, “This day is surely the day of the Lord, O Flanders.” She then threw herself into his arms in joy and rejoicing, and young man and young woman hugged. In this embrace, Sir Flanders lifted Lady Jenny up off of her feet, and Lady Jenny did bend her one leg back at the knee in sweet romance as she found herself airborne in Sir Flanders’s arms. And he set her back upon the ground. She quick gave him a little kiss. And he quick gave her also a little kiss. Sir Flanders then said, “I love you, Jenny.”
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And Lady Jenny said, “And I love you, Flanders.”
Then a seagull from Jesus came flying in upon the most happy fellowship group. It landed upon Sir Flanders’s shoulder. Of course it had a note if its beak. And Sir Flanders took this note and did read it to his fellowship family: “The False Prophet has been executed this afternoon in Rome by a
band of born-again Christians.”
In this great revelation, Lady Jennifer said, “There are other believers now out there, Flanders! Christianity in this world of tribulation is no longer just you and I!”
“The Antichrist has died here in DePere today! And the False Prophet has died there in Rome today!” exclaimed Sir Flanders.
Lady Jennifer declared what all the fellow shippers here were seeing happen before their very eyes, “This seven-year tribulation upon Earth is now almost done!”
“In God’s fullness of time, Jenny!” averred Sir Flanders.
Indeed nothing else had to happen in the world now before Christ was to come and usher in upon this world that paradise called “The Millennial Reign of Christ.” This was also called “Christ’s Thousand-Year Reign.” It was going to be “Heaven on Earth.” very, very soon for all believers everywhere.
Sir Slanders looked at Lady Jenny, and he said, “Maranatha, girlfriend!”
Lady Jenny looked at Sir Flanders, and she said, “Maranatha, boyfriend!”
And all twelve griffins of God also said now, “Maranatha! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”
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CHAPTER XVII
Sir Flanders and Lady Jennifer were alone with Journeyman on a date in De Pere. The remnants of that great and final battle spread all over Lady Jenny’s yard and throughout her neighborhood were cleaned up by the Holy Spirit. All were just as if nothing had happened. The Lord Jesus now ruled this world. The tribulation had passed. All evil was now put down. And Satan was banished to the bottomless pit, this Devil no longer able to wage war against God and man. All was good and happy and godly now. The capital of the world was Jerusalem. And there did Christ the Lord sit upon His throne and rule this blessed new Earth. These times now upon the world for Sir Flanders and Lady Jenny were the Millennial Reign. The Second Coming of God had taken place just the other day, and Sir Flanders and Lady Jenny were here to see it happen.
Lady Jenny adoringly combed the good donkey with a special animal comb, and he was enjoying this. She said, “I am so glad, Flanders, that Tracy finally got around to getting saved.”
“Yeah, Jenny. I am, too,” said Sir Flanders.
“The silly girl waited and waited. And when she finally did pray the prayer, it was just in the nick of time,” said Lady Jennifer.
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“Yes. Talk about waiting until the last minute,” said Sir Flanders. “Wasn’t it just a couple hours before Jesus came?”
“Not even a full hour before He had come, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny.
“That mighty angel speaking unto the world from way above finally convicted Tracy of her sins and of her need for the Saviour, Jenny,” said Sir Flanders.
“He said, ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made Heaven, and Earth, and the sea, and the fountain of waters,’” said Lady Jenny.
“The witness warrior angel and his utterance prophesied in Revelation 14:7 coming to pass,” said Sir Flanders.
“And I was the lucky one who got to lead Tracy through the prayer,” said Lady Jennifer.
“She was crying. Wasn’t she?” asked Sir Flanders.
“Uh huh,” said Lady Jenny with a nod. “When she came running up to me, herself so afraid of Hell, she was crying in sorrow. And after I got her saved, she, so grateful for Heaven, was crying in joy. And I was crying with her.”
“And I heard that in that one hour that Lady Tracy was saved just before our Good Lord had come, that she had herself led a soul to Christ,” said Sir Flanders.
“Yeah, Flanders,” said Lady Jennifer in ardent reverie, “an old flame of mine whose name was Proffery. God brought them together at the bowling alley in town. She liked the way he bowled. She thought that he was cute. He thought that she was cute. She started talking to a man about Christ for her first time. Proffery told her about his old flame myself. Tracy told him that I was her roommate. He told her all about that important letter that he had gotten from me. He told her that he was thinking about my Saviour ever since. And Lady Tracy, ever impetuous, told him how to become born again. And right away she led him through the prayer, and my Proffery got saved. And right after that they became boyfriend and girlfriend together.”
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“That Lady Tracy gets around,” said Sir Flanders in sincere praise for the young woman.
“Yeah, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny, “but now for God and no longer for the flesh.”
“We four together now have a thousand years of this together to rejoice in with Christ,” said Sir Flanders.
“Ah, I have lived to see the start of this Thousand-Year Reign,” said Lady Jenny.
“And we will still be here a thousand years from now to see this Millennial Reign’s end, Jenny,” said Sir Flanders.
“And then it gets even better!” said Lady Jenny.
“Yeah!” said Sir Flanders. “After this, comes the new Heaven and the new Earth.”
“Well, Flanders. Journeyman is right here. We are in front of my house. And you told me that today on our date we are going out for a special time of worship together. Where are you taking your girlfriend out this time?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“Today I am taking my Fair Lady Guinevere out to a sermon on the lake,” he said.
“Oooo! A girl like me always enjoys a good preaching,” said Lady Jennifer. “Where’s the church?”
“In Marquette on Lake Superior,” he told her.
“What’s the name of the church?” she asked.
“Fifty-First State Baptist Church,” he said.
“Ah, the former Fifty-First Stage that was once yours, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny.
“Aye!” he said. “Now the whole Earth is as was my old Fifty-First State then, Jenny,” he did say.
“Do you miss not being the famous Griffin Keeper these days?” asked Lady Jennifer.
“Peace is more comfortable than war,” he did reply.
“Our Lord is called ‘the Prince of Peace,’” said Lady Jenny.
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“The Baptist church up there has a visiting speaker from Jerusalem,” said Sir Flanders.
“The Lord and Saviour Himself!” said Lady Jennifer in jest and yet very much more in wish.”
“Aye, Fair Lady Jenny,” said Sir Flanders.
“No!” she said in wild hopes.
“Yes,” he said.
“Yes?” she asked.
“’Verily,’ as goes that Bible word,” said Sir Flanders.
“Jesus is coming to Upper Michigan, Flanders?” she asked.
“He is already in Upper Michigan,” said Sir Flanders. “And he will be preaching outside on the big lake right out back of the good Baptist church.”
“What can a young woman like myself say?” said Lady Jennifer. “I wish that I were there with Jesus right now.”
“Your donkey Journeyman will get us both there not too long from now,” said Sir Flanders.
“What’s a cute guy like you keeping your beautiful gal like myself waiting for?” she asked in flirt. In the romance of the moment, Sir Flanders took Lady Jennifer, swept her off of her feet, and set her down upon her donkey. “Ooo, boyfriend!” she said in delights. Sir Flanders then mounted Journeyman in front of his girlfriend. And the two born-again Christians began a most exciting pilgrimage, riding upon the back of a donkey.
After a long while, the two born-again believers saw, off to the side of the road, a wolf and a lamb feeding together. The wolf did not attack and devour the lamb. And the lamb was in no peril, alone with the wolf. “Look at that, Flanders,” said Lady Jenny. “How good and peaceful is this world now that the curse of sin upon nature has been taken away.”
“And look over there on the other side of the road, Jenny,” said Sir Flanders. Lady Jenny turned to see what Flanders was seeing. Lo, a lion, benevolent, tame, and gentle. He was eating, and it was
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not a slain beast that he was feeding on.
Lady Jenny said, “Is it not written, Flanders, ‘…: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox?’ Isaiah 11:7.”
“Yes, Jenny,” he said in awe. “Again is it written in Isaiah 65:25, ‘…, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock:…’”
“I dare you to do your thing with the lion that you always told me that you would do when God would tame all the wild animals, boyfriend,” said Lady Jennifer.
“I think now that I will do just exactly that, Jenny,” said Sir Flanders. He stopped the donkey and got off and walked up to the lion. It was a full-grown male lion with a most full lion’s mane around its face. And Flanders finally got to do his anticipated lion thing now with this lion of the Thousand-Year Reign. And reached out his hand toward the lion, grabbed a hold of its mane in his hand, and tugged on the lion’s mane where the lion did sit. And this benign lion purred and nestled its
large leonine head against Sir Flanders’s legs where Flanders stood. Then Sir Flanders walked back up to Journeyman and Lady Jennifer, mounted the donkey, and said, “There! I did it! This Millennium is a great fun time to live in. Praise the God of lions!” And young man and young woman resumed their pilgrimage.
After another while, Lady Jennifer saw something that made her rejoice in her Saviour and Maker. “Look on up ahead, Flanders!” she said. “Do you see them?”
Knowing his girlfriend very well, he knew exactly what got her so excited. He said, “I do see them, Jenny. All of them on both sides of the road.”
“Horsetails and cattails!” she sang out in a merry heart.
“Your favorite wild plants, Jenny!” he said, sharing her gladness.
The horsetails were along the left side of the road, and the cattails were along the right side of the road. And she said, “As beautiful as horsetails and cattails were to me in the church age, Flanders,
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they are all the more beautiful to me here in the Millennial Reign! Can we stop to look at them, Flanders?”
“Oh, Of course!” he said. “I would like to look at them, too.” And he stopped the donkey. She leaped off of Journeyman and ran to her nature’s treasures. He got off and walked out to them in his own fascination for them.
And for the next half-hour Lady Jennifer found herself quite strolling through two “Elysian Fields.” And, becoming filled up unto divine satisfaction, she then came back to Journeyman. And then Sir Flanders also came out of these two fields. They mounted Journeyman and resumed their pilgrimage. “Was that fun, Jenny?” he asked, knowing her answer.
“I had a great time,” she said. “I had the time of my life,”
“Just wait till we see Jesus, girl,” he said.
“That will be even better yet,” she said.
Lo and behold, Christ Jesus about to preach at this Baptist church’s Sunday Morning Worship service. He was standing before a wooden pulpit. A King James Version Bible was open before Him on this pulpit. The sand of this northern beach was all about where he was standing. Lake Superior in its vastness and in its glory lay behind Him. A large flock of born-again Christians were sitting upon the ground before Him. And seagulls in multiplicity were flying and landing upon where He preached.
And just as Sir Flanders and Lady Jenny got there, the Good Lord Jesus began his outdoor church service: “My children, let us turn to Revelation chapter twenty-one and chapter twenty-two.”
Boyfriend-and-girlfriend-in-Christ were well familiar with these two chapters in the Bible. They were the last two chapters of the Good Book. And they were all of them—every verse—all about Heaven as prophesied by John the Apostle two thousand years ago. And Heaven was here on Earth now that the Second Advent of Christ had recently taken place. The flock with their Holy Bibles open
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before them, then heard God read these two culminating chapters of this holy Book out loud before them. And this was what Jesus read from the King James Version therefrom:
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said
unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is
athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying,
Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal: And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and
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the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was of jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine it it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and
honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life…And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse:
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets
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sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in
in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
The Good Lord then shut the Good Book. And from the pulpit, Christ went on to preach about today’s Bible reading to his flock out here, “Thus ends the book of Revelation. Thus ends the New
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Testament. Thus ends the Holy Bible.”
Then Jesus went on to preach to the flock: “This day, O you saints, have all of these things been fulfilled; and in the fullness of time shall all of these things come to pass.”
Then the Lord looked out upon His flock of believers, and he said to them, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Amen and amen and amen.”
Then God said, “I now close this church service. You good sheep, I dismiss you now for fellowship among each other and for fellowship with your Good Shepherd.” And Jesus took His Perfect Book, left the pulpit, and began to stroll along the sand of this southern shore of Lake Superior, His Holy Bible in His right hand.
Sir Flanders and Lady Jenny looked at each other in great wonders and marvels. “Should we?” she asked her boyfriend. “Do we dare?”
“It is why we have come here, Jenny,” he said.
“To walk with and to talk with our Saviour!” she said what she and her boyfriend were thinking now in their features.
“Our Saviour would like that, too, girlfriend,” said Sir Flanders.
“What would a girl like myself say to God?” she asked.
“Whatever comes into her heart in love for Him, I would say,” said Sir Flanders.
“But I don’t just want to talk to Jesus. I want to sing to Him,” she said.
“I think that I would love to sing to Him, also,” he said.
“I love Him so much,” said Lady Jenny. “I know what hymn I can sing to Jesus.”
“Jesus is so holy,” said Sir Flanders. “I know which hymn I need to sing to Him.”
Shy, so close to God here on the sandy shore, Lady Jenny stood indecisively for only a moment.
But her boyfriend proffered his hand in encouragement. Yes, both boyfriend-and-girlfriend-in-Christ
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could come up to Christ together in so divine worship of Him. And they did so. Young man and young woman approached the Good Lord Jesus, and they fell down upon their knees in adoration of God Himself standing there in His very self.
And Sir Flanders went ahead and sang the hymn “Holy! Holy! Holy!” to the most holy God:
“1. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
- Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert and art and evermore shalt be.
- Holy, Holy, Holy! Tho the darkness hide Thee,
Tho the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy—there is none beside Thee
Perfect in pow’r, in love and purity.
- Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!”
Jesus then reached forth His right hand and set it on Flanders’s bowed head and did bless him, saying, “My good and faithful son, great is your faithfulness to Me in waiting upon My time to send you the girl to take away your loneliness. Well done for Me, thou holy and faithful servant. I will make you ruler of many places. Thus have you entered into this joy of the Lord in this Millennial Reign.” Then God took away His hand.
Lady Jenny then went ahead and sang her hymn to Jesus—the hymn “My Jesus, I Love Thee” to her loving Saviour:
“1. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine–
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou:
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.
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- I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow:
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.
- I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the deathdew lies cold on my brow,
‘If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.’
- In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
‘If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.’”
Christ then reached out his left hand and put in upon Lady Jenny’s bowed head and did also bless the woman, saying to her, “My godly and loyal daughter, great is your patience upon God in your lonesomeness. You have done most well in seeking My will in your desires for a companion. You knew that I could send you the best man to become your boyfriend. And you are both here together. Well done, my good Christian lady. I thus bless you with a great mansion for a house. Great are your
rewards here in the joy of the Lord in My Thousand-Year Reign.” Then the Lord took away his hand.
Then the Lord said unto Sir Flanders and to Lady Jennifer, “Arise, O boyfriend-and-girlfriend-in-the-Lord, and stand upon your feet.” They did so. And Jesus said unto them, “Lady Jenny, I have given you the boyfriend to whom you are his Fair Lady Guinevere. Sir Flanders, I have given you the girlfriend who is your Fair Lady Guinevere. The Song of Guinevere which I have heard in your many prayers, in which I did answer with a ‘Wait,’ was unto the both of you a sad song of wishing. But your Song of Guinevere, which I have since answered with a ‘Yes.’ is now unto the both of you a happy song of having. I bid you both now to love each other for the rest of this Millennium and on beyond into eternity. Lady Jenny, bow to and build up your boyfriend. Sir Flanders, love and lead your girlfriend. And do not share anything together that you would not do were you to see me there with you. After all, am I not everywhere?”
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Then Jesus said final words to them, “Flanders Nickels and Jennifer Jubilee, it is written in Revelation 14:13 about such Tribulation saints as yourselves, ‘…: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.’ Go now, my son, my daughter, and live happily ever after.”
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