Flanders Nickels is a born-again believer who is not ready for Heaven to come. A Christian who desires to be with the Lord in Heaven will have a crown of righteousness waiting for him in Heaven. But not Flanders. A fairy princess bride named Madrigal Grymalkin comes from God to help him to get his heart right with the rapture. With her wand, Madrigal puts Flanders through various tests of temptations to guide his heart toward loving the Lord’s appearing. Will Flanders have this crown to give back to Jesus in the life to come?
THE FAIRY PRINCESS BRIDE
By Mr. Morgan P. McCarthy
His name was Flanders Nickels. He was a born-again Christian. And he was reading his King James Bible, himself sitting up in bed in comfort and in joy over the Word of God. And he came to this verse in today’s Bible study: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This was Revelation 21:2. This “bride” was a symbol, or metaphor, for the church—the whole aggregate of all born-again believers everywhere of all the ages. The city was a figure of all the saints. The bride was a type of all the saved people out there. And Christ was the husband. And himself a believer, Flanders was this bride adorned for her husband.
And he was not ready to meet the Lord in Heaven for ever and ever yet. Flanders wanted just a little more time on this Earth before he got to go to Heaven. He was going to be in Heaven for eternity anyway; but his time on Earth was only temporary and quite temporal. He wanted to live many more years down here and die in a good old age and then go to Heaven. Such a reluctance for the rapture forfeited his love for the Lord’s appearing. And because he did not want the Lord to come quite yet,
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the Lord could not give him the crown of righteousness when he would come home to Heaven—by rapture or by death. This crown was “his crown” even though he did not earn it in his walk with Christ down here and even though his heart was wrong with his Saviour thus. All the Christians on Earth who wanted more than anything else to be with Jesus earned this crown of righteousness up in Heaven.
But not so Flanders Nickels. And he was convicted once again of his sin of his “crown not being on his head.” He so wanted this crown, and yet he was so far from earning it. And he prayed for it once again here up in bed with the Bible open upon his lap.
Flanders looked upon the Bible verse that he had upon his bedroom wall in here. It was a poster-sign in green magic marker handwritten on a piece of copy paper and taped to the wall with scotch tape. It said, “’Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.’ II Timothy 4:8.” His thoughts about this crown in Heaven were to put it on, walk around with it, take it off, and promptly give it back to Jesus, and never put it on again.
He then turned to look upon his lady mannequin in the opposite corner of his bedroom. She was dressed as a bride in white. She was taller than he was and quite thin and well built as mannequins go. And she was a women’s size ten. He affectionately gave her the name “Mannie Quinn,” as in “mannequin.” And her wig was pretty, and her eyes were pretty, and her form was pretty. But her wedding dress was the most pretty part of her, being of the styles of wedding gowns here in the 1980’s.
This mannequin bride was truly like unto a fairy princess bride for him. If only a real bride could come into his life to take him away to a land of crowns. He wanted to date a bride like Mannie Quinn for the rest of his life, he and she always boyfriend-and-girlfriend, and herself in a bridal gown on all of their dates together. He wanted a perpetual girlfriend-in-Christ dressed every day in a bridal dress like unto his mannequin’s. He wanted a bride, but not a wife. Getting up off of his bed, he then knelt beside his bed, and he prayed now, “Dear Father in Heaven, would You send a fairy princess bride into my life,
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one who truly loves Your appearing? In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.” After having prayed this, the man stood back up, meandered to his living room, and plopped down upon his sofa. He pondered, wondered, waited, doubted.
Just then a knock came upon his apartment door up here. He jumped up off of the sofa, ran to the door in wild hopes that God was answering his prayer, and opened his door. Lo, a beautiful and real fairy princess bride before him, her eyes looking upon him and his eyes looking upon her. “Whoa, Ma’am!” he said giddy in delights upon her and her bridal dress. Her comely visage made her look like she had come from another world. Surely she was no more than five feet tall. Her complexion was a magical white. Her tresses were light blonde and long and straight and with perfect full and even bangs. Her ears were sticking outward from her hair high up on the sides of her head. Her upper jaw protruded beyond her lower jaw. Her eyes were a yellow-brown. And her wedding dress was most abundant with white silk and with long sleeves and with a Basque waistline and with a long train. She was even more desirable than his Mannie Quinn in her years as “his bride.” This real woman before him now was truly in all points his consummate fairy princess bride. And this comely bride spoke and said to him, “Good sir, I have come here where God has sent me.”
Reader, it is written in Psalm 18:6, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”
“Are you a bride who loves the rapture, Miss?” he asked to make sure.
And she said, “I am such a one, Sir.”
“Would you come in and join me for fellowship?” he asked.
“The honor would be mine,” she said. His, too, most definitely. And they came into his living room, and he sat down upon the sofa, and she sat down upon the sofa.
And the fairy princess bride said, “My name is ‘Madrigal Cue Grymalkin.’”
“Madrigal Q. Grymalkin?” he asked.
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“’Cue’ as in ‘C-U-E,’” she said.
“Oh, I thought ‘Q’ as in the letter ‘Q,’” he said.
“Not so,” she said. “What’s your name, may I ask?”
“My name is ‘Flanders Arckery Nickels,’” he told her.
“The middle name– is that ‘archery’ as in bows and arrows?” she asked.
“Not ‘a-r-c-h-e-r-y,’ but rather “a-r-c-k-e-r-y.’” he spelled out his middle name for her.
“It is so,” she said in a most approving tone.
She then raised her right hand into the air where she sat, and, behold, a magic wand appeared in her hand. And she said, “Good Flanders, God has sent me to you to answer your prayers for that crown of righteousness.”
“You know that about me, Madrigal?” he asked in first hopes of his dream for the crown.
“I am endowed with Holy Ghost wisdom,” she said. “The Lord Jesus has told me a little about you.”
“Are you an angel?” he asked.
To this she said, “I am a Christian,”
“Are you an elf?” he asked her.
To this she said, “I am a Christian.”
“Are you a fairy?” he asked.
To this she said, “I am a Christian.”
“You are a bride,” he said. “And a Christian.”
“I am a bride and a Christian,” said Madrigal Cue Grymalkin.
“Who is the lucky groom?” asked Flanders Nickels.
“He is Monsieur Mediterranée,” replied the fairy princess bride.
“I know some French,” said Flanders. “’Monsieur’ is French for ‘Mister.’”
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“Oh not so in my groom’s case,” said Miss Grymalkin. “Instead ‘Monsieur’ happens to be his real first name. He was given that name at birth.”
“Most fascinating this fellow is,” said Flanders.
“Did you ever hear of the famous prince in history who was called ‘the lost dauphin?’” asked Madrigal Grymalkin.
“He was the firstborn prince of a royal family, and he disappeared one day, and nobody saw him since,” said Flanders.
“Well my Monsieur Mediterranée they all call ‘the found dauphin.’” said Madrigal. “For that I am blessed of God and happy.”
“He was lost and was found?” asked Flanders.
“Indeed Monsieur was lost at sea in the farthest east of the Mediterranean Sea, and he was found at sea in the farthest west of the Mediterranean Sea, Flanders,” explained the fairy princess bride.
“God is looking out for groom and for bride, O Madrigal,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Uh huh!” said Miss Madrigal Grymalkin. “God is good, and God is great.”
“You are a lucky bride to wear that wedding dress for a fellow like him,” said Flanders.
“Our wedding will take place just as soon as I finish God’s work with you this day, O Flanders,” said the fairy princess bride.
“Is this work going to be hard?” asked Flanders.
“It will not be hard for me, but it shall be hard for you,” said Madrigal.
“What’s going to happen here today?” he asked.
“With my wand from God, I must guide you through some tests in the Lord in order that you learn to love the crown of righteousness for which it represents, Flanders,” said the fairy princess bride.
“I shall be tested by God,” he said in uncertainty, “to learn to love to be with Him.”
“God already knows what’s in your heart. You need to know what’s in your heart.” she said.
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“I believe that I know already what’s in my heart, and it is not good,” said Flanders. “But I am willing to learn from my God what my God wants me to learn.”
“That’s a good spirit, Flanders,” encouraged the fairy princess bride.
“I am ready, Madrigal,” he said. “Lord, be with me.”
“First I must make you feel comfortable with me,” said Miss Grymalkin. “I wish not to be the bringer of troubles to you without first easing your mind in Christ.”
“What do you think to do to make me less fearful of my trials, Madrigal?” he asked.
“I think maybe to tell you how I got saved in the first place,” she said.
“That would make me feel more confident,” he said.
“I can give you the testimony of my salvation, Flanders, and then you can give me the testimony of your salvation,” said the fairy princess bride.
“Do tell me how you found the Saviour, Madrigal, then I will tell you how I found my Saviour,” said Flanders Nickels.
And Miss Grymalkin went first, “I got born again at the most early age of five years old. I am twenty years old now. I have been a Christian now for fifteen years. Mom and Dad began telling me about God as soon as I was born. I did not understand what they were saying to me then yet, of course, but it was all good things that they were telling me about the Lord. Mom and Dad were mighty saved for many years when I came around into the family. And they worked and prayed and witnessed hard for my soul. The first word I spoke as a baby was ‘Mom.’ My second word that I spoke as a baby was ‘Dad.’ And my third word that I spoke as a baby was ‘Jesus.’ The first five words of English whose meaning I did understand were taught me by Mom and Dad, and these words were ‘Saviour,’ and ‘Satan’ and ‘sin’ and ‘salvation’ and ‘save.’ Mom called them the ‘s-words.’ Dad called them ‘my five words.’ And the first Bible verse that I came to know by memorization was the short verse in the Bible, John 11:35, which goes, ‘Jesus wept.’ That was my first two years as a child.”
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Madrigal Grymalkin continued, “Then I was two years old, and Mom and Dad began to teach me all about Heaven. They both taught me most truly that only born-again believers get to go to Heaven when their time comes. I first started considering this Heaven in my little young mind then. That was my third year as a little girl.”
Miss Grymalkin then went on to say, “And when I turned three years old, Mom and Dad felt that I was ready to hear about Hell. And they began to teach me about all the torments of Hell. They especially warned me about the fires of Hell. Mom and Dad kept telling me that only those who were not born again had to go down there. We both know that to be true, Flanders.” He nodded. She then said, “That was my fourth year of life. I decided then that I would never go there and burn.”
She went on to say in her testimony to Flanders, “Then, at age four, on my birthday, Mom and Dad asked me, ‘Madrigal, do you want to get saved today?’
I said at once, ‘Not yet, Mom, Dad.’ I first rejected Jesus in my life. But Mom and Dad did not give up. They kept asking me if I wanted to get saved. And I kept giving different answers like, ‘Not quite now,’ and ‘Not today,’ and ‘I’m not ready,’ and ‘Later maybe,’ and even a terse, ‘Nope.’ All ways of rejecting Jesus at age four I kept telling Mom and Dad. That was my fifth year of life as a little girl who needed Christ.
“Then I turned five years old, Flanders,” said Miss Grymalkin. “I had a bad scary dream about Hell in the middle of the night. Crying, I ran downstairs to Mom and Dad’s room and hugged them and trembled in their arms. I told them, ‘I am ready to get saved now.’”
“The fear of Hell is a great reason to get saved,” said Flanders.
“It is the best reason to get saved,” said Madrigal. “It scared me right to Jesus.”
“You were crying and ready for the Saviour,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Yeah! And Dad led me line-by-line through the sinners’ prayer. With Dad’s help I prayed that prayer and did thereby receive God’s free gift of eternal life for my own,” said the fairy princess bride.
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“Right after I got saved, I was suddenly no longer afraid of Hell. I could never go there now, because I was now born again into the family of God. And I never had a nightmare about Hell again. Now I am going to Heaven instead. Amen, Flanders! Praise God for Mom and Dad.”
“Amen, Madrigal!” said Flanders.
“Now tell me your testimony of salvation, Flanders,” said the fairy princess bride.
“I was fifteen years old when I got saved, and I am thirty years old now. Like you, Madrigal, I have been a born-again believer now for fifteen years,” began Flanders Nickels.
“What made you to seek Jesus as Saviour when you were fifteen?” asked Miss Grymalkin.
“A crazy fireworks accident that I brought upon myself,” said Flanders.
“Those fourth of July fireworks can be dangerous if one is careless,” said Madrigal.
“Especially so, Madrigal, if one is reckless,” exclaimed Flanders.
“What were you doing with fireworks that was so very reckless?” she asked.
“It was an innocent little sparkler,” he said. “Just one.”
“Were you doing something stupid with it?” asked Madrigal.
“My buddies and I began to ‘sword fight’ with our lit and burning and sparkling sparklers,” he confessed.
“Boys will be boys,” said Miss Madrigal Grymalkin, wondering upon what had become of this game of that Fourth of July.
“My whole head of hair got on fire!” he said in disclosure. Quickly my buddies took off their shirts and wrapped them around my head and did put out the fire. But my head was all burned up from the quick little fire.”
“I am sorry to hear that, Flanders,” said the fairy princess bride.
“We wild and crazy young men,” he said in self-reproach.
“Were you all right?” asked Madrigal.
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“I was not sure at the time,” he said. “I began to wonder if I would ever be all right again.”
He then said, “But this fire in my hair here in the world got me to thinking about the fire that would be all over all of my body in Hell. And I knew that the way I lived was surely sending me to Hell when my time would come, Madrigal. I understood that I needed God in my life. So I walked to the parsonage of the Baptist pastor just down the road and asked him about the Lord. He at once taught me that two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus died on the cross for me and on the third day arose from the grave. Surely a God Who did this could save me from Hell to come. I asked the Pastor, ‘How can I get this God into my life as my own Saviour?’ And he preached all about this Jesus to me. And in the end he led me through the sinners’ prayer line-by-line. This was how I became born again, Madrigal.”
“Your face looks good as new from that accident,” she said.
“The merciful and gracious Lord helped me to fully recover from my sparkler burns,” he said.
“Amen to the God of health and strength,” said the fairy princess bride. “Amen to the God Who forgives and redeems.”
“Amen to the good Baptist pastor who happened to be at home when I really needed him,” said Flanders. “Glory to the God of salvation and providence.”
A short while of silence passed; then the fairy princess bride said, “Shall we get down to business with the Lord, Flanders? God has a crown that He wants to give you.”
“The crown of righteousness,” said Flanders.
“Test I,” declared Miss Grymalkin.
“Test I,” said Flanders. “I am ready.”
The fairy princess bride stood up from the sofa where the two were sitting, and she raised her wand in the air, and she brought it downward in a stroke. Lo, two slinky one-piece swimsuits appeared upon the carpet in front of Flanders’s feet where he sat. He had seen these before. They both used to be an essential part of his life. These were his life of girlfriends before he had found Christ. “Their
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very maillots!” he sang out in sweet gladness.
“You remember,” said the fairy princess bride.
“I can not forget,” he said. “Thank you for having brought these back from my past.”
“This is test from God,” warned Madrigal Grymalkin to remind him.
“These two one-piece swimsuits are not good for me, are they?” he asked.
“Not then in your old life of sin, and not now that you are the new man in Christ,” said Madrigal.
“They are and were beautiful,” said Flanders. “And Victoria and Virginia were beautiful and sexy in them,” he did give in to reminiscence.
He then picked up the maillot that lay upon the floor to the left and did hold it by its voluptuous shoulder straps. It was all black with a pattern of colored leaves and branches in the upper torso and across the cups. “This was Victoria’s one-piece swimsuit,” he said. “We both called this ‘the black one-piece swimsuit.’” He then reached inside the maillot and read the tags to himself that he had known all of his old dating days with Victoria. One read, “Costa Del Sol by Christina.” The other one read in front, “82% polyamid, 18% elastane. Lining: 93% polyamid, 7% elastane. Made in China. Size 14”; and in back, “Handwash cold/do not bleach/do not iron/do not tumble dry/line dry in shade/do not wring/do not dry clean.” He then looked up at Madrigal. He said, “She was my first girlfriend. Victoria…she had on this black maillot every time we went on a date. We had fun in the lakes and in the creeks and in the rivers with her always dressed in this. She was fun, and life was happy. She was my black-one-piece swimsuit goddess.” He then most affectionately set this back down upon the living room carpet in front of this sofa.
And he then picked up the maillot that lay upon the living room carpet to the right. He picked this up also by its most aesthetic shoulder straps, and he said, “This was Virginia’s one-piece swimsuit.
She became my second girlfriend of my life. She came later in my life.” He paused, then said, “We
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both called this ‘the traditional one-piece swimsuit.’ because it was made of Spandex. Virginia…I called her ‘my traditional one-piece swimsuit goddess.’ We wrestled and roughhoused and romanced in the pools of the parks, her self covered in this all the time. I tell you, as good as Spandex feels when it is dry, it feels all the better when it is wet.” He then looked into this traditional maillot and read the tag. The front of the tag read, “Tropical Escape, 14, shell: 82% nylon, 18% Spandex; lining: 80% nylon, 20% Spandex. Made in Vietnam.” And the back of the tag read, “Machine wash cold. Do not bleach. Tumble dry low. Do not iron.” Having said this, he then delicately set this one upon the carpet alongside the other one before where he and Madrigal sat on the sofa.
“Do you miss these maillots, Flanders?” asked the fairy princess bride.
“Oh, I do, Madrigal,” he said.
“They steal your heart,” said Madrigal.
“As I look at them now, I surely know why I called these swimming suits the most beautiful things on Earth,” he said.
“And about the crown of righteousness, Flanders?” asked Miss Grymalkin in necessary test for this day.
With a moment of silence, Flanders went on to say, “Surely the crown of righteousness must be the most beautiful thing in Heaven, O Madrigal.”
“But which would you choose right now?” asked the fairy princess bride.
“Well, Madrigal, I can see the one-piece swimsuits right now, but I cannot see the crown of righteousness right now,” he said to her.
“So, what’s your answer—the two women’s maillots or the Lord’s crown of righteousness?” asked Miss Grymalkin.
“I choose the crown of righteousness later on,” he said.
“So you choose the one-piece swimsuits now?” she asked.
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“No, Madrigal Grymalkin,” he said. “I choose the crown also now.”
“By the word ‘also,’ what do you mean?” asked the fairy princess bride. “Do you mean that you choose now the maillots and also the crown? Or do you mean that you choose the crown later and also now?”
“I do choose, both later and now, only the crown, Madrigal,” he said.
“You promise that to me, Flanders. Now promise it to the Lord,” exhorted Miss Grymalkin.
“Dear Lord, it is written, ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ Matthew 6:19-21. In Jesus’s name. Amen.”
“What do you want to be done with these women’s swimming suits, Flanders?” asked the fairy princess bride.
“I want them out of here now, Madrigal,” he said.
“Well chosen, O steadfast Flanders,” praised the fairy princess bride her disciple. And with this, Madrigal Grymalkin waved her wand and, lo, the pair of maillots was gone, just like that.
“I passed the test,” said Flanders, taking a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
“Test I is now concluded, O Flanders,” declared the fairy princess bride.
“There are more?” he asked.
“Test II is next,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“What will this one be about?” he asked, not at all confident.
“God would not mind if I were to tell you that this test will involve two things more important to you even than old girlfriends’ swimming suits,” intimated the fairy princess bride.
“Is that what test II will be about—two things more tempting to me than even one-piece swimsuits, Madrigal?” he asked.
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“Uh huh,” said Madrigal with a nod of her pretty head.
“What else could such a thing be than my two books?” he asked.
“Let us commence this second test for you in order to get you that crown good and sure,” she said. And the fairy princess bride waved her wand in the air where she and he sat upon the sofa, and behold, two bindings appeared now upon the living room table in front of them and not far away.
“Yep. My books, Madrigal,” said Flanders Nickels.
“I magically took them out of your middle desk drawer of your bedroom and put them here in front of us,” said the fairy princess bride.
“You have power and wisdom, Madrigal,” said Flanders. “You are definitely the right one whom God did send to me today.”
“Look at them, Flanders,” said Madrigal. “How you finish this test II will determine if you can keep these or have to lose these.”
“Maybe my last few moments with these, Madrigal,” he said.
“Maybe,” said the fairy princess bride.
And Flanders Nickels, the writer, stood up and approached his living room table and looked at his precious two written books. On the left upon this table was a hard copy of a novella of one hundred pages, bound in a white report cover binder. On the right upon this table was a hard copy of another novella of one hundred pages, this one bound in a black report cover binder. The little white binding was entitled The Elysian Forests. The little black binding was called The Elysian Plains. These were all typed up, all proofread, all very well written.
“These novellas I wrote are both all about what Heaven might be for me when I get There,” said Flanders Nickels.
“I can see that even though your heart might not be right about the Lord’s appearing, you still think about going to Heaven nonetheless, Flanders,” said Madrigal, learning something new about him.
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“Oh, but only when I write,” he said.
“Do they talk a lot about Jesus?” she asked.
“Not as much as they ought to,” he said.
“You need to write about Heaven with Jesus in all your pages,” she said.
“Yeah. I know that now,” he said.
“So, why do you write, Flanders?” she asked.
“Because it is more fun than dating. Because I like to create literary works with Jesus. Because it satisfies me,” he gave three most sincere answers.
“I think that I know something about you now,” she said.
“What do you know?” asked Flanders.
“I know that your two novellas are the symbol of your walk with Christ and that they are good things and that God does write with you as you write them,” said the fairy princess bride.
“The Holy Spirit truly helps me to write what I do write, Madrigal,” said Flanders Nickels.
“But I also think that I see something else about these two novellas,” she said.
“It is something not so good this time. Isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yeah, Flanders,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“Do tell me, Madrigal,” said Flanders.
“I can see that right now you would rather write about being in Heaven than actually being in Heaven with our Good Lord,” said the fairy princess bride. “Am I right, Flanders?”
“That really is not so good, Madrigal,” confessed Flanders.
“Are you beginning to understand what test II here and now is all about, Flanders?” asked Miss Grymalkin.
“I must choose between my two hard copies and my one crown of righteousness,” said Flanders with ready comprehension.
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“Is it so that the reason that you are not ready for the rapture because you do not believe that you can keep writing Up There in Heaven as you do down here on Earth?” asked Madrigal.
“Oh, I will write in Heaven for sure, Madrigal,” said Flanders.
“But what?” asked the fairy princess bride.
“Except I know that I cannot take these two books I wrote down here up in the rapture to Heaven with me,” he said.
“For sure, Flanders,” she agreed. “It is written, ‘For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.’”
“That I Timothy 6:7, Madrigal,” he lamented.
“Flanders, Flanders, you will see God Himself!” she exclaimed. “Why let your novellas take your eyes off of Jesus as you do?”
“I do not know what the Lord looks like, Madrigal, but I do know what my two books look like,” he said.
“It is written, ‘(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)’ II Corinthians 5:7,” preached the fairy princess bride powerful words of Scripture.
“I did read in a Bible commentary book about ‘the regal glory of Christ Up in Heaven,’” said Flanders.
“Indeed Christ’s regal glory will be transcendent, deified, perfect,” declared Madrigal Grymalkin, “like nothing you have ever seen in this Earth, I most surely tell you.”
“I know how God told Abraham to slay his own son for Him, and Abraham went ahead with God’s will, and an angel came and stopped him, and God offered a substitute,” said Flanders, “Can I not now do in like unto God and these books? Must I not now give up my The Elysian Forests and my The Elysian Plains for the Jesus of Heaven and for the crown that He wants to give me There? I hereby give up my two novellas for the crown I so need.”
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“Prove it to me and to God, Flanders Arckery Nickels,” exhorted the fairy princess bride.
“Is it not written, ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.’
Colossians 3:1-2?” Having then declared this, he then pushed the novellas off of the table and down upon the carpet and said, “Make them go away with your wand, Madrigal.”
To this Madrigal Grymalkin said, “Flanders, you have passed test II. You may keep your written works. God is glorified in them. He wills their preservation.” And the fairy princess bride did not wave her wand and make the novellas go away.
“Whoa,” Flanders prayed. “Lord, You are full of surprises. Thank You.”
“And now, Flanders, it is time for test III,” declared the fairy princess bride with her wand in her hand.
“Test III,” said Flanders Nickels, ready and more confident now in the Lord. “Give it to me good, O Madrigal.”
“Brace yourself, Flanders. This one will be tricky,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“Give it to me good, Lord,” prayed Flanders Upward.
Herself now calling upon God Above, the fairy princess bride raised her wand above her head and prayed, “If You would, Jesus, bring down from Heaven into this room that which You wish to bring down for Flanders to see.” And Miss Grymalkin brought down her wand. Lo, two celestial crowns which belonged only in the third Heaven suddenly appeared on the empty sofa on the middle cushion.
Neither bride nor host dared to sit upon this sofa right now the two crowns were so transfigured where the crowns did lie. Neither spoke a word for a long time. Then Flanders said, “What are they?”
And she said, “I know what they are, Flanders.”
“They do not seem to be crowns of righteousness to me for some reason, O Madrigal,” said Flanders.
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“Nay, Flanders. Indeed these are not crowns of righteousness,” she said.
“What kinds of crowns are these, O fairy princess bride?” asked Flanders Nickels.
Mentor and disciple remained standing before the sofa upon which the crowns did lie, and neither dared to sit down upon the outer cushions of the sofa for fear of violating the sanctity of these crowns from Heaven.
And the fairy princess bride pointed to the crown on the left, and she said, “This one is the crown of rejoicing.” And then she pointed to the crown on the right, and she said, “And this one is the incorruptible crown.”
“I dare not reach out and pick these up,” he said in reverence toward these two eternal rewards borrowed thus from Heaven.
“The crown of rejoicing is the soul-winners’ crown, Flanders,” Madrigal taught him. “And the incorruptible crown is the obedient crown.”
“Why are they both here?” he asked.
“Because right now they are both yours, waiting for you in Heaven,” said the fairy princess bride.
“These two crowns are mine, too?” he asked.
“Remember, the crown of righteousness is pending,” she said.
“Either way, Madrigal, are you saying that I will have earned this crown of rejoicing and this incorruptible crown from how I lived for Christ in my walk with Christ?” he asked.
“Oh yes, Flanders,” she said.
“This soul-winners’ crown,” he said. “I go out with the men of my church and give out the Gospel, but I do not remember leading anybody through the sinners’ prayer, Madrigal.”
“Oh, but they got saved after,” said Miss Grymalkin. “You gave that dear lost soul the Gospel, handed him a salvation tract, shared the plan of salvation with him, listened to what he had to say, and
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left on a good note. Later on that same man remembered your kindness and thought upon the powerful Bible verses that you told him, considered the Gospel in his heart, read the tract, and prayed the sample sinners’ prayer on the back. Lo, he became a born-again believer. You won his soul. And you had a direct hand in winning his soul. Hence the soul-winner’s crown that is before you right here. And not only him, Flanders, but other men and women and boys and girls—none of whom had at first agreed to pray and get saved as you invited them to at the door—these all did repent and did pray for salvation later on.”
“So this is what the crown of rejoicing looks like,” said Flanders in awe and great gladness.
He gazed upon this crown of rejoicing before him now. It was all aglitter with pure platinum thick and heavy and priceless. Along its top was a series of notches like the battlements of castles, as one would see upon the chess piece called the “rook.” And all around its circumference were inlays of pure gilded gold and inlays of pure sterling silver. After a good long look, Flanders said, “A person doesn’t get to see things like this here on Earth. Look how it shines, O Madrigal. This is none other than the glory of the God of souls.”
Then he turned to the other crown on the sofa. “This is the incorruptible crown then,” he found himself saying in wonder of reverie. “You said that this is the obedience crown.”
“”The crown given the saints who let Christ control their bodies in this life, Flanders,” said the fairy princess bride.
“I did that?” he asked.
“You have not grieved the Holy Spirit of God. You have not quenched the Holy Spirit of God,” said Miss Grymalkin. “At least not a lot, I should say.”
“How have I let Christ control my body, O Madrigal?” asked Flanders. “What did I do right in my Christian life that Christ would give me so undeserved a crown as this incorruptible crown before us now?”
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“Your feet take you to church. Your hands give out salvation tracts. Your eyes read the King James Bible. Your tongue prays prayers. Your ears listen to hymns of God. Your mind stays on Jesus. Your heart longs for the crown of righteousness even though it is yet to long for the rapture. And your spirit and your soul do love your Saviour.,” summed up this knowing fairy princess bride.
“That I do at that,” he said in contemplation.
He stared at this incorruptible crown right now in fervent and ardent fascination. It was all of bronze throughout and bedecked with twelve different sparkling gemstones around its circumference.
The fairy princess bride went on to tell Flanders. “These twelve jewels that you see on this crown are jasper and sapphire and chalcedony and emerald and sardonyx and sardius and chrysolite and beryl and topaz and chrysoprasus and jacinth and amethyst.” She then went on to say, “These are the same types of jewels that will be the twelve foundations of the wall around new Jerusalem when time ends and when eternity begins.”
“This incorruptible crown is so rich that it must be heavy,” he did say in overwhelming zeal. “The God of holiness and righteousness made this crown. This reward is surely the epitome of every ‘Thou shalt’ and every ‘Thou shalt not,’ in the Bible.”
“And both this crown here and that crown here on this sofa is all yours, Flanders,” said the fairy princess bride.
“I’ll take them both and go to Heaven and put them on and then fall down in worship before Jesus at His throne and give them both back to Him,” said Flanders Nickels in daydream about eschatology.
“Test III, remember, Flanders,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “This glory upon my sofa is the third test.”
“Choose now between the crown of righteousness individually and between this crown of rejoicing and this incorruptible crown collectively,” explained the fairy princess bride.
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“Are you saying that I have to choose now for forever after between my one crown of righteousness and these two crowns that are now upon the sofa, Madrigal?” he asked.
“Flanders, are not two Heavenly crowns better than one Heavenly crown?” asked Madrigal Grymalkin in test.
“Why, I have to choose my one crown of righteousness,” he said without any doubts.
“Flanders, you made up your mind so quickly,” said Madrigal. “Are you sure of what you say? I ask you to think before you say another word.”
“I want that crown,” he said again about his crown of righteousness.
“There are five different crowns mentioned in the Scriptures, Flanders, and all five crowns have equal value in the eyes of the God of rewards at the Bema seat,”said the fairy princess bride.
In most telltale reply of a heart right with Christ, Flanders Nickels said, “Forget the crown of righteousness for those who love the Lord’s appearing. Just bring on the Lord’s appearing.”
“Why, Flanders, you have learned to love the rapture now more than you do the crown about the rapture,” exclaimed the fairy princess bride.
“Right now I want to meet the Good Lord,” he said.
“Because you have chosen the one crown over the two crowns, these two crowns are still yours to have in Heaven after the rapture,” promised Madrigal. “Test III is done. You have passed it with flying colors, Flanders.” She then waved her wand, called upon Almighty God, and the two Heavenly crowns on the sofa now returned to Heaven, to wait for Flanders when his time would come to leave this earth.
“Is there another test?” he asked.
“The fourth and last test,” she said of yet this other test.
“Test IV,” he said.
“You might want to sit down for a while here with me on the sofa to get ready for this test,” said
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the fairy princess bride. They sat down upon the sofa on each end. They had a little prayer meeting.
They rested. They waited.
Then Flanders said, “I am ready for test IV now, Madrigal Grymalkin.”
“Test IV will be a culmination of the three previous tests,” hinted the fairy princess bride.
“I will do anything now to keep my dear crown of righteousness, even take on the climax of my tests from God this day,” promised Flanders.
“Here goes,” said Miss Grymalkin, raising her wand.
“I shall prevail in God,” he vowed. And the fairy princess bride waved her wand about in the Lord.
Just then a knock came upon the door of his apartment. Then a second knock came right after. And a woman’s voice from outside his apartment door called, “Are you home, Flanders?” And then another woman’s voice called out from the hallway out there, saying, “We are here, Flanders.”
Flanders jumped up from the sofa and called out toward the apartment door, “Victoria! Virginia!” And he ran to his door and quickly opened it up to greet his two old girlfriends. There they stood—together this time before him–and dressed in pretty blue jeans and long-sleeved cotton shirts and Jiffy hats.
“It is good to see you again, Flanders,” said Victoria.
“I missed you, Flanders,” said Virginia.
“It is good to see you again, Victoria. I missed you, too, Virginia,” said Flanders.
“We both thought that maybe we could come and see you on a kind of double date between you and us two,” said Victoria.
“We both agreed on this together,” said Virginia. “It is all right with us two women if it is all right with you.”
“You are both still beautiful,” he said. “But it doesn’t sound fair for the both of you to have me
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to share between yourselves.”
“Oh, but we don’t mind,” said Victoria.
“We don’t, Flanders,” said Virginia.
“This never happened before,” said Flanders. “You are both so very pretty.”
“We women only ask one thing of you first,” said Victoria.
“Tell me what it is, and I will do it,” said Flanders.
“We just ask that you deny your crown of righteousness before us now,” said Virginia.
His trust in his old girlfriends suddenly plummeted, and he said. “Oh, but girls, I deny the both of you now!” He looked to his fairy princess bride back on the sofa, expecting her to wave her wand and make the girlfriends go away. But his mentor did not do that right now. Test IV must continue on.
His old girlfriends were still with him at the door of his apartment. The women did not see the fairy princess bride, but the fairy princess bride saw the women.
Then the fairy princess bride waved her wand, and behold, the old girlfriends were no longer in their regular clothes, but rather now in their old one-piece swimsuits. Where they were most comely before at this door, now they were comely and desirable.
“Do you want us now, Flanders?” asked Virginia.
“We want you,” said Victoria.
“I’m a siren,” said Virginia.
“Do you want to be our satyr?” asked Victoria.
“If you’re thinking of taking away my crown, women, think again,” said Flanders, seeing the two maillot girls as seductresses.
“Just do one thing for us. It is simple and easy. And nobody would have to know,” said Virginia.
“Yeah. God won’t mind,” said Victoria.
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“I’m not giving up my crown, I said,” declared Flanders. “It is written, ‘And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.’ I John 2:28, You two are not welcome here.” He looked into the living room in hopes that Madrigal would wave her wand and make the girlfriends in their maillots to go back to where they had come from. Madrigal did not do that right now.
Virginia looked at Victoria and asked her, “What more do we have to do?”
And Victoria looked at Virginia and said to her, “We have to try harder.”
Steadfast in her work for the Lord upon Flanders, the fairy princess bride waved her wand again.
Lo, two bound books appeared in the women’s left hands. Flanders knew what these were. He had written them. They were his works. Virginia held up her left hand and said, “Why, this is a typed book that someone has written.”
And Victoria said, looking upon what was suddenly in her left hand, “I’ve got a typed up book, too. What is it all about?”
“Mine is black, and yours is white,” said Virginia.
“Flanders, did you write these?” asked Victoria. He nodded.
“You did tell us that you write a lot,” said Virginia. He nodded again.
“Virginia,” said Victoria. “I think that he likes us with his manuscripts in our hands.”
“We are both more pleasing to him now that we have his writings with us like this,” said Virginia to Victoria. He nodded a third time. What they were saying was true. And he was admiring them now even more so for holding his novellas than even for wearing their slinky maillots.
Holding the white binder against her breast, Victoria asked, “Am I sexy to you now, Flanders?”
“How about me, too, now, O Flanders?” asked Virginia, in like pressing the black hard copy against her heart thus.
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“Ladies, knock it off,” he said, wise and strong in the Holy Spirit. “You have come here in the Devil to take away the crown that I finally earned today. And you will leave here not having succeeded in taking away the crown that I now love. Go now and do not come back.”
He then sneaked a peek at his fairy princess bride and gave her a look in request at waving her wand for him and taking all of these temptations at the door away from him. Again the girlfriends could not see Madrigal, but Madrigal could see them. Miss Grymalkin did not wave her wand even now. And Flanders Nickels was left alone with two old girlfriends in two nice maillots and holding his novellas in their left hands. He paused to think. There was one more thing for the fairy princess bride to summon that would even further enhance the women at the door. He knew what it had to be. And he prayed in silence, “Not the two crowns, O Lord.”
Virginia said, “Flanders, we are not going to give up easily.”
“Yeah, Flanders,” said Victoria. “We two girls came to have a good time with you.”
Yes, the fairy princess bride waved her wand and prayed and brought down the crowns from Heaven. Suddenly a crown full of precious metals appeared in Victoria’s right hand. Lo, the crown of rejoicing to tempt Flanders thereby. And just as suddenly a crown full of gems appeared in Virginia’s right hand. Here the incorruptible crown to test Flanders.
“Ooo, a royal crown!” said Victoria in glee.
“Look at mine,” said Virginia, very pleased.
Embellished with all of the delights that made Flanders’s life what it was, his two old girlfriends were so irresistible, that he almost said, “Take my crown of righteousness and give me yourselves, Victoria, Virginia.”
But suddenly, to Flanders’ shock, the old girlfriends went and put on these crowns upon their own heads! They were lost in their sins, and here they were, wearing crowns that belonged only to the most faithful of Christians! Such sacrilege had never been done before in front of Flanders Nickels
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like this. These old flames were blaspheming the holiness of his Lord Jesus Christ, and they could not know it. Suddenly he saw their hearts for their darkness within. And they lost their spell upon him consummately.
In great indignation for his Heavenly Father, Flanders asked them in great ire, “Would you go and put on my crown of righteousness as well, you two devils?”
And he slammed his apartment door shut on them, locked it up, and said no more to them.
And he marched back to the fairy princess bride waiting for him on the sofa. And he said, “I want to go Home to Heaven.”
“Flanders, you have prevailed in test IV,” said Madrigal Grymalkin. “The tests are all done. You have persevered. Your heart is right with the Lord’s appearing. And the crown of righteousness is now waiting for you in Heaven, never to be ‘taken off of your head’ in the rest of your life down here.”
“Thank you, Madrigal Grymalkin,” he said. “I am weary, and still angry at them.”
“The Lord will say to you at the Bema Judgment Seat of the believers, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant,’” promised the fairy princess bride.
“I look forward to that day, Madrigal,” he said, finding strength and rest in that. “Jesus is Good.”
Then Miss Grymalkin waved her wand. “What’s that for?” he asked.
“To take away all of the appurtenances with which I decorated those two women,” said the fairy princess bride. “Where they are now all that they have are the clothes that they had on when they first came here today.”
“Madrigal,” he said.
“Yes, Flanders?” she asked.
“Could you wave your wand and bring down for me my crown of righteousness?” he asked. “Do I get to see it now, do you think?
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“That crown cannot be looked at by its recipients in this world in this life, O Flanders,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“Even now, O Madrigal?” asked Flanders.
“This crown can only be seen by its recipients in the world to come in the life to come,” taught the fairy princess bride Flanders.
“Woe!” lamented Flanders Nickels.
“But I do have two proverbs about the rapture that will encourage you in your wait till Jesus comes,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“How does the one proverb go?” asked Flanders.
“About the rapture, ‘Sooner than I think, but not so soon as I would like,’” she told Flanders.
“That’s very edifying,” he said. “What does your second proverb say about the rapture?”
“Better today than tomorrow, and better tomorrow than the next day,” she told him.
“That brings hope,” he said.
“The blessed hope,” she said.
“Yeah!” he said fervently.
“It is written about hope, Flanders, ‘For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.’ Romans 8:24-25,” recited the fairy princess bride.
“I shall wait for my time of the rapture and of my crown with the blissful promise,” he said about the Lord’s appearing. “When He’s ready, I’m ready.”
“Well, Flanders. My work is done for you. I must soon run away and marry my groom,” said Miss Grymalkin.
“I am so glad to have seen you today, Madrigal,” he said. “And I thank you for your strictness
in those tests. You were a hard taskmaster, but you did it out of love. You are a great fairy princess
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bride of Christ.”
“I heard that you have a kind of fairy princess bride of your own,” said Madrigal Grymalkin.
“Yes. My lady mannequin, Madrigal,” he said.
“Oh, could I see her, Flanders?” asked Miss Grymalkin.
“That would be a great way for me to spend my last moments with you on this get-together, O Madrigal,” he said. “I am so flattered that you asked for that.” Then he said, “Follow me, my good friend.”
And he led the real fairy princess bride into his room to show her his make-believe fairy princess bride. In the spirit of fun, he said, “Madrigal Grymalkin, meet Mannie Quinn. Mannie Quinn, meet Madrigal Grymalkin.”
Enjoying this little flirt with Flanders, Miss Grymalkin played along and said, “Glad to meet you, Mannie Quinn,” and she curtseyed before the mannequin in her wedding dress.
“Do you like it?” asked Flanders Nickels.
“She wears a very beautiful wedding gown, Flanders,” said Miss Grymalkin. “I can tell that it was very expensive. Where did you get it?”
“It was made by Alfred Angelo,” he said.
“I think that I like her bridal gown even more than I like my bridal gown, I do say, Flanders,” she said.
“Who made your bridal dress, Madrigal?” he asked.
“Mine was made by Demetrios,” said the living fairy princess bride.
“Well I think that I like your wedding dress even more than I do Mannie Quinn’s,” said Flanders Nickels.
“Mine was expensive, too,” she said.
“Your groom-to-be is marrying a most ravishing bride,” said Flanders Nickels.
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“Thank you,” said Madrigal. “I feel good in this.”
“Could I take a picture of you to remember this day for the rest of my life, Madrigal?” he asked.
“Why, the honor would be mine, Flanders,” said Miss Grymalkin. “Could I have you in the picture with me?”
“I don’t have a modern camera that can take selfies like every one else does,” he said. “Mine is an old time camera whose photographs must be developed.”
“Could I stand next to Mannie Quinn here then, and you take a photograph of two fairy princess brides standing next to each other?” asked Miss Madrigal Grymalkin.
“Why, yes. That I can do,” he said.
“Then can I take a photograph of you standing next to the same Mannie Quinn so that I can remember this day with you for the rest of my life, too?” asked the living fairy princess bride.
“You’ve got a little crush on me,” he said.
“A little,” she said. “And you have a little crush on me, too.”
“I do, at that,” he said. And he got his camera, and they took pictures of each of the three in this room.
Then the fairy princess bride asked, “Is there one last thing that you would like to do tonight to glorify our Good Lord before I go away and never come back, O Flanders?”
“Could we sing a hymn from my hymnbook tonight before we say, ‘Good-bye?’” he asked.
“We fairies from God love to sing,” she said. “What song could we sing together that is on your mind right now?”
“The hymn ‘Christ Returneth,’” he said.
“A great hymn for a man who has just earned the crown of righteousness this night, Flanders,” said Madrigal Grymalkin. “Let us sing from the hymnbook.”
And he got his hymnbook, returned to his bedroom, and opened it to his hymn of this day.
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Madrigal Grymalkin stood between the mannequin bride and Flanders. And Flanders held up the hymnbook in both hands before him and his guest bride. And the fairy princess bride and the man who learned to love the Lord’s appearing sang “Christ Returneth”:
1. It may be at morn, when the day is awaking,
When sunlight thru darkness and shadow is breaking,
That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory
To receive from the world His own.
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song—Christ returneth!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.
2. It may be at midday, it may be at twilight,
It may be, perchance, that the blackness of midnight
Will burst into light in the blaze of His glory,
When Jesus receives His own.
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song—Christ returneth!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.
3. While hosts cry Hosanna, from heaven descending,
With glorified saints and the angels attending,
With grace on His brow, like a halo of glory,
Will Jesus receive His own.
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song—Christ returneth!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.
4. O joy! O delight! Should we go without dying,
No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying,
Caught up thru the clouds with our Lord into glory,
When Jesus receives His own.
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song—Christ returneth!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.”
Then with a hug from the fairy princess bride and with a touching of nose to nose from the fairy princess bride, Madrigal Cue Grymalkin said, “Fare you most well, Flanders Arckery Nickels.”
“May your faithful groom become your faithful husband, O fairy princess bride,” said Flanders in farewell.
Then the fairy raised her wand, and she was here no more with Flanders.
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