continued to work our way down the rocky incline until we reached level ground. Before us lay a vast and totally barren plain, and far in the distance I could make out the misty blue line of another mountain range. Off to the left, there appeared to be a great sandstorm in progress. Elatia halted the horse for a moment.
“Where are we going?” I asked, as we seemed to be out of immediate danger.
“Well, first we are going to the Sanctuary or Paradise as it was once called. It’s located in the sacred zone which is where you see that sandstorm. We will spend the night there, and head out in the morning when we have had a chance to rest up a bit.”
I breathed a sigh of relief to hear that they had regular days and nights here and that there existed a place called the “Sanctuary” where we could rest.
“The Sanctuary? That sounds like a place I never expected to find in Hell,” I answered, obviously surprised to discover that there was anywhere in this region that was remotely good. Elatia said we were riding straight for it, but the huge sandstorm didn’t appeal to me at all.
I had only seen sandstorms like this in movies. It appeared to be a great wall of churning, smothering, blinding sand at least as high as a six- or seven-story building, but strangely enough, it didn’t appear to be moving. It remained a dense wall of swirling sand shrouding the Sanctuary and forming a perpetual and impenetrable barrier. As we approached, the sound of the howling wind and blowing sand was almost deafening, and I felt a great apprehension about even coming this close to it.
3. The Sanctuary
We were galloping into a wall of sand in the middle of a barren wasteland in the heart of Hell.
There was no sign of this wonderful place called Sanctuary or Paradise, that Elatia had said was not far away. The sandstorm stood like a great silicon barrier blocking our sight as well as our way. The torrent of driven sand, traveling with such a force that the swirling grains stung my skin, filled my lungs until I began to cough violently. It was impossible to breathe in this blinding vortex of misery. I coughed violently and felt Elatia, dismount and draw her sword as she led the horse still deeper into the storm cloud. She seemed to cut away at the swirling sand until a patch of open ground was cleared, and I could see what appeared to be a bridge leading to an entrance just the other side of this very wide and very deep chasm. Across this gulf I could see beautiful hills and white houses surrounded by lovely trees and gardens.
“That is the Sanctuary! It is a safe place for travelers such as us to rest and pray and prepare for our difficult journey ahead. It is also a place where searching and penitent spirits can learn more about God. Of course, they first need the faith to get through the sandstorm. Many such secure havens are set aside by God as spiritual reserves. The truth is that this sacred zone has existed ever since the very beginning when the Lord created the Earth. This zone was originally much larger and acted as a base where angels could come and rest, and relax a bit. Since the time of the Fall and the slaying of Abel, it has served many different purposes. For a long time it became the resting place of the good spirits of people who died before Jesus came. Those souls from the predeluvian world who were found worthy all waited here for the Promised One to appear and establish the Kingdom of God. Some had to wait hundreds of earth years. It became a great school for learning patience and wisdom, as they were able to see the fruit their lives bore on the Earth.”
This revelation only increased my curiosity and although we both were eager to cross over the bridge, I had questions I wanted to ask. Elatia was ever patient and understanding of this novice’s insistence on quizzing her about everything and disrupting her mission of rescuing people out of Hell.
“You mean to tell me that this place was like a reservation for the spirits of just people?” I asked.
“Yes, some of them came here, but some were taken up higher in the spirit to the place we call the mountain of God.”
I was still trying to get it straight. “There seems to be some discussion about men like Moses and Elijah, whether their bodies were taken also. Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain to talk with Jesus, as Peter and John testified later. I assume that they came down from Heaven to be with Jesus, but Jesus had not prepared His city yet so was there a place for them in Heaven?”
“Your understanding of Heaven is a little limited,” Elatia explained. “You seem to think that the city, New Jerusalem that Jesus built for His disciples on the mountain of God, is all the Heaven there is. When Jesus said that He would go and prepare a place for them, He wasn’t implying that there was no other place in Heaven for them. Building a special city for them was only the beginning of His great plan for bringing the Kingdom of God to Earth. But first He had to finish His mission on Earth. Jesus, remember, was the key used by God to restore order in Creation and unlock the mysteries concerning the Kingdom of God in compliance with the prayer, ’thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.’ “
I interjected, “There are so many differing teachings about Heaven and life in the spirit. As soon as someone draws a circle around what they believe to be all the truth that one needs to know, God comes along and draws a bigger circle of truth that includes their circle plus a lot of other circles as well.”
“One reason you’re here, Travis, is to discover the different circles of truth there are to things mentioned in the Bible. After you’ve seen how much more there is to this region than you thought, your question may be, ‘Will I ever be able to see the whole picture or will God keep revealing greater dimensions beyond what we know and presently understand?’ ”
“Will God keep moving the goal posts of our understanding farther out every time we think we have reached them?” I asked.
“I suspect that He will keep things interesting for eternity,” she agreed. “But it may take that long just to properly introduce Himself because there is that much to learn about Him.”
”Getting back to understanding Heaven, Saint Paul says that he was caught up to the third Heaven. Are there different levels of Heaven?” I asked, eager to understand more.
“Yes, there are different levels in Heaven, but getting to go to a higher level works the opposite from getting a promotion on Earth. In God’s Kingdom those who go higher are humble souls who were the servants of all.”
“Speaking of Heaven, how does the city of New Jerusalem fit in?”
“Jesus commissioned the building of New Jerusalem so that those who His Father had given Him could be with Him to behold the glory which His loving Father had given Him before the world began. There were a lot of angels and saints at work helping Him to build it, along with His Father as well. But His city was not the only dwelling place for those righteous men and women who died before He came to Earth. Each person was judged according to his works, and taken to a place or position in the spirit world fitting his station, the role he played on Earth. Different saints went to different levels in the city of the living God. Remember that Jesus and the angels, and presumably certain saints, lived in a very nice Heaven that had many mansions in it before the physical world was created. What you have to realize is that the spirit world is not some static place that never changes. Only God Himself never changes. He said that heaven and Earth will one day pass away but the Word of God will never pass away.”
“You are saying that some saints went up into the eternal realm, while others were sent to the Sanctuary.” Seeking more specifics, I asked, ”Can you give me an example of anyone who went to Paradise, Heaven or Hell?”
“Yes. The thief on the cross who
