Stellarian

THE IMMORTAL

BOOK I

By

J. J. Dewey

CHAPTER ONE

Elizabeth

I have always wanted to be a writer, but never seemed to find the time to carry out my dream. Ironically, this time in my life is the most difficult of all to begin such a project as this, but it is something I must do. I have a story to tell that is difficult to believe, so I am writing it as fiction. It is too unbelievable to present as a true story. Nevertheless, I do maintain that the principles taught herein are true and that many readers will have this verified by their hearts and souls.

I'd like to start with John, but that probably wouldn't work. I must tell you about Elizabeth and something about myself before you can begin to understand.

CHAPTER THREE

The Bell Ringer

The next morning I heard the bells again. They continued to ring for several minutes after I was fully awake. This time I decided that I must talk to the bell ringer himself. I felt there was a possibility that he might somehow hold the keys to this mystery.

I drove over to Albertsons again, and there he was, faithfully ringing his bell. I felt nervous about approaching him but forced myself onward.

CHAPTER FOUR

The First Communion

Drinking coffee at Denny's seemed to be a strange situation to have the greatest spiritual experience of my life, but that was where it happened.

After we received our coffee and exchanged several pleasantries about the Christmas season, I had to show my curiosity. "I'm full of questions. I want to know the meaning of the bells, who you are and what you mean by mission."

CHAPTER SIX

The Beginning of Knowledge

After taking a few minutes to explain why I was late getting home, I told Elizabeth the details of my conversations with John.

"I don't know," she said. "It sounds pretty hard to believe. I think sometimes you are a little too eager to believe some of the weird stuff you get into. I mean, look at it from my point of view. One moment this man is just a bell ringer for the Salvation Army and the next minute he has you believing he's the Apostle John from the time of Christ. You told me not to tell anyone about this. You don't have to worry about that. I'm afraid if I did that they would put you away. Then I'd have nobody to take care of me during my last few months on this earth."

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Answer

John took a breath, leaned back in his chair, and said: "By the way, that's about the best salmon I've had in a thousand years. Good wine, too. Reminds me of some good German ones back in the 30's. I appreciate your hospitality."

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you," I beamed.

"Now on to the question," said John. "The question Elizabeth asked is not usually of great concern for a person who is healthy, active and gliding along in life. But sooner or later every soul in his or her progress reaches some type of life crisis or problem and looks to the skies at some invisible being and demands: ‘Why me, God?’Or it may be, ‘Why my wife?’ or ‘Why my child?’ or ‘Why my parents?’ He wants to know why this suffering seems to single him out and not others who seem to richly deserve it. He hears that God is love, but if He is loving, then why would He allow this?"

CHAPTER NINE

Who Are We, Really?

I shut the door behind me and walked over to Elizabeth. "What do you think?" I asked.

"He's interesting," she said. I could see from the light in her eyes -- something I haven't seen in a long while -- that hope had returned.

"Do you think he's for real?" I asked carefully.

"I don't know for sure. Something about him is very convincing."

CHAPTER TEN

The Dream

I drove over to Albertsons to seek out John again and ask him the 2000-year-old question.

I drove around the corner and saw the now-familiar sight of the bell ringer. I parked, got out of the car and headed toward him. "John!" I said.

The bell ringer turned. It was not the same bells, nor was it the same John.

"Where's John?" I asked.

"Who's John?" replied the man, a fairly scruffy-looking guy about twenty years younger than John.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Reunion

It was a long wait until the next Thursday. I had a million questions to ask John, but the most important thing to me was just to see him again. I wanted to share my dream with him, even though I assumed he knew the story. Now the problem was that I wasn't sure how to contact him. Just before noon on Thursday I went to Albertsons to see if he was working there again. I was disappointed to find that same substitute there again. Of course, the substitute did not know anything about when John may come back.

I went back home and had lunch with Elizabeth and shared my frustration with her.

CHAPTER TWELVE

GODS-R-US

John took a sip of fresh coffee and said, "Now, tell me your answer."

"I figure this has to be a good answer because it is a direct quote from Jesus, or Joshua as you now call him, and it was written by you in the book of John chapter 10. There Jesus said, Ye are gods."

John smiled and said, "So what is the answer to the question, 'WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU?"'

"I guess men are gods." I replied tepidly.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

What We Are Not

The next couple of days were fairly ordinary. I got the feeling Elizabeth didn't want me to press her further about any hidden guilt, so I laid low in that area. In fact, it seemed as if there was a distance between us that didn't exist before our conversation, and I did not seem to know how to close the gap.

I did quite a bit of thinking on who or what I was and was looking forward to my weekly breakfast with Wayne. Maybe bouncing a few things off of him again would bring some additional light.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The Name of God

The rest of the week passed rather uneventfully. I didn't seem to be looking forward to my weekly meeting with John as much as usual because I knew I would have to give the handkerchief back. During the week, Elizabeth didn't let it out of her sight. She had it in her possession at all times. It seemed to work for her though. She had most of her strength back and we went for short walks each day. In addition to this, she did most of the housework and cooking. I was beginning to feel like we were a normal married couple again, except it was now Thursday and I had to deliver the handkerchief back to John.

That evening Elizabeth went to bed early. At about eleven I went upstairs to see her and observed her lying peacefully asleep with the handkerchief clutched in her right hand.

I nudged her. "Sweetie," I said. "It's time for me to take the handkerchief."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Becoming

After getting to bed so late, I was hoping to be able to sleep in, but was awakened by Elizabeth shaking my shoulder.

“My legs!  I can't move my legs at all!”

“Maybe they're just asleep,” I said, half asleep myself.

“No.  No.  It's worse than it was before.  I can barely move them at all now.  Help me!”

I hated feeling so powerless, but helped her up into her wheelchair.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Dark Brothers Revealed

The next Thursday evening, as Elizabeth and I were sitting down for dinner and I was wondering how I was going to contact John this week, I heard a knock on the door.  To my surprise it was John!

“I hope I'm not imposing,” he said.

“No... No, come on in.  Sweetie, look who's here!”

Elizabeth looked pleasantly surprised.  “Come have some dinner with us.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Song of the 144,000

“So, are you going to teach us the song then?” I asked eagerly.

“Yes,” John replied.  “Get a pen and paper and write down the words precisely as I tell them to you.  This is one teaching you are not to put in your own words, but must be exactly memorized.”

I got the materials and prepared to write.  “I'm ready,” I said, poised for revelation.

John began by closing his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them and slowly spoke these beautiful words: