The Path to Everywhere

Hello, everybody.
Usually, I write fiction here and then comments and notes about that fiction, but I recently saw a posting by my good friend "Wanderer" http://lessonsunlearned.blogspot.com/ that sparked what promises to be a long discourse on God. Wanderer and I go back about ten years and there were times when he and I would get into one of these interesting discussions and his wife and mother would just sit back and laugh at us. He posted a very interesting piece on prayer called "My Role in Your Life", most of which I really liked and would gladly pass along to others who had questions on prayer, but a short statement at the end caught my attention and being the skeptic that I am, I couldn't get past that. It's like if somebody gave me a meal that had all good food, meats, breads, cheeses, great desserts and beverages, but in the middle of this meal was a cyanide capsule. Knowing that, would I eat the whole meal, ignoring the assurance of death because the vast majority of what was presented to me was edible? No, of course not. So, what I say to any Christian, and any other person as well because believe it or not, the rules do apply to everyone, search out all that you are given and test it according to scripture. As Jesus said, a little leaven works its way through the whole lump of dough, and a little falsehood wrapped up in a lot of truth will eventually pervert that truth until it is just another lie. That being said, I would like to remind Wanderer and everyone reading this that we are friends and if I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything. Thanks for giving me stuff to sharpen my spiritual teeth on, and I hope that some of my comments and the stories below do the same for you and many others.
Anyway, the nature of the argument isn't that important to this particular post and if you want to read it, go to Wanderer's blog and look around for a while, you'll come across my statements sooner or later. But the question that he asked me that prompted me to sit down and stray from my usual short stories and poetry was this: "If God is everywhere, how can there be only one way to get to Him?"
Like I told Wanderer, that question may take a while to answer, not because I do not know the answer (though to say that I have the final and authoritave answer myself would be arrogant. I believe in the Bible, and the Bible gives me the answer, and since the Bible claims to be the word of God, then I believe that God himself answered the question thousands of years before Wanderer, myself, or anybody else even thought to ask it) but because it is such a profound and thought provoking question that to give a pat answer like "Jesus says..." would do it disservice. Although if you keep reading this you will discover that in the end, for me, that is what it will come down to anyway. But let me spout off and rant for a while. I'm a writer. I love to do that.
I want to try a philosophical, a-biblical answer, if possible. The question starts with an if. "If God is everywhere..." So we must establish that God is indeed everywhere before we can begin to answer the question. Is God everywhere? What if there was a place, in this plane or another, where God wasn't? If such a place could possibly exist, and (to bring yet another if into the equation) if our sole purpose in life, or even if one of our many purposes in life, is to find and be with God, then wouldn't it behoove us to avoid the place or places that he isn't? Then a journey would exist, even if it is a very short and uneventful one, to get out of the place where God isn't to get to the place where he is. But if God is everywhere, in everything, in everybody, the only journey becomes finding him in those things, including ourselves. Then, God is in the searching, God is in the finding, and everything we do, whether we know it or not, is part of that journey. After all, ignorance of something doesn't make it untrue or nonexistent. I could know nothing of gravity or even claim not to believe in it, but if I jump off a bridge or a cliff or a building, I would still fall. (Anybody who thinks otherwise, try it, and let me know, hopefully only from a hospital and not from a morgue, how it goes. On second thought, I don't want to get sued, so don't go jumping off of anything and blaming me. Trust me, gravity will take you down, I would not be responsible!) In the Christian philosophy, many would define HELL as "separation from God." So the Christian faith seeks to find God and be where he is, because where he isn't is quite literally Hell. Let's not get too biblical here though, because the question still remains, is God everywhere? (see why I said it would take a while? If you get bored, feel free to scroll down and read a story or two. I recommend "The Old Man" and "Stikora") I can't answer that without quoting the Bible. Sorry. But let's just assume that God is omnipresent. That being the case, why look for him? Why try to find him or go to him? If he's already there, why do we have to jump through hoops to get to him? Muslims travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, Buddhists and Hindus also make many treks (I traveled one of those roads myself a while back in Tibet) and many other faiths have some sort of pilgrimage, albeit the journey may be more spiritual than physical. Why do we journey if we don't at some level believe that there is some "where" where we need to be? Why do we try to find meaning in life if we don't believe on some level that there has to be a "why"? Why do literally billions of people of all faiths strive to find and please and fellowship with what they call "God" if at some level we don't know that there is something beyond ourselves. Only a true atheist, and those are very rare indeed, would disagree that there isn't a some "thing" beyond us, even if that beyond is actually contained within us.
Allow me to digress a bit. On one of my favorite TV shows (and I will now reveal to all of blogdom what a nerd I am) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine there were ongoing discussions about gods and "prophets" and faith. Three things came to mind while I was writing this. One character, a Cardassian, was arguing with a Vorta. The Cardassian mentioned a race called the Bajorans (sorry, non trekkers) who believed that the aliens who live in a nearby wormhole are gods. The Vorta scoffed at that, even though the Vorta believed that the Changlings (or the Founders), another alien race, were gods. When the Cardassian pointed that out, the Vorta said, "That's different. The Founders are gods!" The second one also involves that Vorta. His race was genetically engineered to believe that the Founders were deities. When this was pointed out to him, ironically by a Changling, "Did it ever occur to you that you believe the Founders to be gods because they engineered you to believe that?" (or words to that effect) the Vorta replied, "That's what gods do." And the third and last of these displays of nerdity, involves the Bajorans again. There were too races of aliens fighting for the wormhole, both claiming to be the true gods of Bajor and both gaining followers. One follower of the Prophets said to a follower of the Pa Wraiths, "The problem is, we both can't be right." Just a few thoughts about the nature of God from a science fiction show. (BTW, the last paragraph shows exactly why I believe Christian Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror should exist.)
But let's get back to the question at hand, if anybody out there still remembers it. If God is everywhere... So let's say he is, just for the sake of argument. He's everywhere. Does that mean we believe in a pantheistic everything is God philosophy? If God is in the water, is God the water? Is the water God? If God is in the stone or the wood or the birds or the air, is any or all of those things God? To some, they are. To others, that is blasphemy. To the God of the Bible, it is a ridiculous question. You see, my God is not above sarcasm. A quick paraphrase of Jeremiah 2:27,28 would read, "If the stones and wood are your gods, fine! When you're in trouble, ask the stones and sticks to help you. See what happens!" To a pantheist, cracking a stick in half will help you find God. God is in the stick, God is in the cracking. (pretty Zen of me, huh?) To a Christian, a Jew, or a Muslim, this is idolatry and a waste of your time, effort, and a good stick. But who's right? A monotheist says God made the stick, a pantheist says that God is the stick. If he's everywhere, isn't he both the maker of the stick and the stick? Not according to some belief systems. But that's a whole other argument there.
Let's take a different approach. The God is everywhere thing is very big and almost uncomprehendable, much too big for a simple man like me to figure out. So let's focus on the journey aspect. Wanderer himself used the words "...way to get where he is." I know what he was trying to ask and he'll probably be a little upset at me for twisting his words against him, but that's also something I love to do! Sorry...
Get to where he is. Let's say for the sake of argument that God is in Heaven and our goal is to get there. Heaven isn't a physical place we can find in a space ship or burrowing underground (although some believe it is, but this is for the sake of argument), it's a spiritual place, another plane if you will, and the journey to get there doesn't involve physical motion like an earthly trek, but a spiritual movement, spiritual growth, spiritual lessons, etc. But, to put this in human terms, let's assume that instead of getting to Heaven, we want to get to Albuquerque (my pastor used this today and he used that particular city as an example, so I'll go with it. Besides, it didn't seem to be a coincidence to me that the pastor talked in length today about the question Wanderer asked me, even though to my knowledge he never even read that specific post. God, if there is a God, is funny that way...). Albuquerque is a specific place in a specific location. To get there, first you have to move in the direction it is located in. For me where I am, I would go south. To someone in Mexico, the direction would be north. Wanderer would move west while someone in Phoenix would go east. So, we're all traveling in different directions to get there. Could it work that way with heaven? Could it work that way with God? Could four people travel in entirely different directions and still arrive at the same place? Keep reading...
Then, say the man from Mexico decides to ride a motorcycle to get to Albuquerque. Then I, going south, would ride a donkey. Wanderer hops aboard a jet plane and flies. The man from Phoenix decides to take a river raft, carrying it on his back between rivers. So now we have four different people traveling in four different directions and using four entirely different modes of transportation. Could that work the same way with God? Can we all get to heaven using different modes of transportation moving in different directions?
I could go on! Say the Mexican uses a map to direct himself northward on his motorcycle to Albuquerque. Wanderer trusts the pilot of the plane and his radar system to guide him. I, having been there, only use my memory as a guide. The man from Phoenix asks directions from everyone he meets and they guide him along the way.
Throw in a hundred different variables and a hundred different people using a hundred different modes of transport with a hundred different guidance systems, and still, they will all reach Albuquerque, right? Of course, if one thing is the same for all of them: that they are actually headed towards Albuquerque.
Let's say the man from Phoenix asks directions from somebody who has never been to the city, or maybe even from somebody who doesn't want him to get to Albuquerque. That person tells him that from Phoenix, he should head west a few hundred miles until he reaches the ocean and then take his raft out there and follow the north star or maybe even tie his raft to the back of an oil liner headed to Asia. Now, no matter how much this man wanted to go to Albuquerque, no matter how prepared he was, no matter how good his intentions were or how detailed his plan, if he follows that advice, he is not headed to Albuquerque.
Or what if Wanderer gets to the airport in Rochester and asks them, "Which plane goes to Albuquerque?" and they tell him, "Just get on any one of them. It doesn't matter where they are headed. As long as you are a good passenger, obey the fasten your seatbelt light, and are polite to the flight attendants, you'll get to Albuquerque." "But," says Wanderer, "You have a hundred different planes here, all going to different places. I want to go to Albuquerque." And they say to him, "Whichever plane appeals to you, that's the one you should take." So Wanderer sees a big shiny 747 sitting on the runway and thinks that such a big fancy plane has to be going to Albuquerque. He gets on board, obeys the fasten your seatbelt lights, is polite to the flight attendants, orders the fish, keeps his headphones low so as not to bother the other passengers, and sits back for a nice relaxing flight to London. Is he going to Albuquerque?
Wanderer used the example of heading North. If you head north and if I head north, no matter what path we take, we'll both eventually reach the North Pole. True, but what if we're both not heading north? Just because the North Pole is in the same direction for both of us, if I head East and you head South, neither of us will get there. Yeah, I know, you go south long enough you're going north again and then you'll reach the north pole, but what about poor me wandering around in an endless circle around the equator always believing that if I travel long enough, I'll reach the north pole? Just like Albuquerque, where you can travel towards it from a hundred different directions, or the North Pole, where you can take a million different northward routes and still reach it, one wrong turn, one detour in a different direction, one boarding of the wrong plane or taking the wrong advice, and you can get so far off track that finding your original destination may seem impossible! What if finding God, or finding the place where he is, is the same way? What if we can take a wrong turn or board the wrong plane and find ourselves moving away from him and not towards him, always hoping to find him and thinking that if we travel long enough, even in the opposite direction, we will find him?
Think about that for a while. When it comes to things of God, this, as with all other analogies, falls far short of the deep and mysterious spiritual mysteries and revelations. But, while you ponder that little philosophical rambling of mine, let me go on to another point.
There are some who would say that all religions are true in and of themselves and that all pathways are equally valid. "God", whatever he/she/it/or they happens to be, has revealed himself/herself/itself/themselves in many different ways to many different peoples, cultures, and religions in whatever way he/she/it/they fell that that culture needed at that time. A Hindu friend of mine (yes, I'm a Christian, but I have many friends of many different faiths. We almost always "argue" with each other, but usually come away better for those arguments.) used this argument on me. Also, a Buddhist friend said something similar. Makes sense to their point of view. After all, the Hindus believe in a god that didn't create, he became creation and all of creation is a part of him and all of creation will be a part of him again. So, for that philosophy, god is as much in Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha as he is in Hitler, Ganges Khan, and Pauly Shore. That philosophy of everything is true for somebody and nothing is true for everybody works fine until someone throws a wrench in it. That wrench was thrown in by whoever came up with monotheism. I say whoever because, still for the sake of argument, whether it was God himself or some misguided man, the classic monotheistic religious world view creates a path way to "God" that isn't compatible with the concept that every path is valid. Back to Star Trek for a moment. If anyone remembers the Original Series episode "Mudd's Women" they no doubt remember when a simple illogical statement was used to make an android's head explode. The android, a machine and therefore purely logical, was told two things. First, he was told that everything that Harry Mudd said was a lie. Once he had accepted this, Harry Mudd himself told him, "I am lying." The android concluded that if everything that Harry Mudd said was a lie, then if Mudd said "I am lying," then Mudd must be telling the truth. But how could Mudd tell the truth if everything he said was a lie? The android literally burned out trying to answer that question. It's a paradox. How can two entirely opposite ideas be true? The above concept of "God" states that every path is equally valid. So, along comes Judaism, then Christianity, then Islam, and then about a million and three off shoots all claiming to be the one and only path to God. If every path is true, then what these three religions and their many branches claim is true, but if the three of them say that they are the only path, then every path is no longer true. Anybody's head exploding yet? Let's say that a god does exist according to that philosophy who wants everyone to find him in their own way. That god would be the god who explained to the Hindus about reincarnation and to the Christians about heaven and hell. Okay, I can accept that. It makes sense according to the cultures. But, that god would want everyone to get along and love each other, right. One precept common among most faiths from Mormonism to Islam is the love of God and the desire for peace on Earth. So that god, while revealing many different paths, would make those paths work together and not against each other. After all, a Buddhist, a Christian, and Muslim, and even an atheist would all be headed to the same place, just in different ways. So, this God says to the Buddhists, "All ways are valid." and says to the Christians, "No man comes to the Father (God) except through me (Jesus)." There is a conflict. Not a very big one, mind you. They both can be enlightened, happy, and holy people. So let's look at another conflict: Jesus says many things in the gospels that literally equate him with God. Many so-called scholars look back at this and try to reinterpret his sayings, edit them, or say that he didn't mean what we are trying to say he means. But, his statements were understood by his audience, the Jews. One example is John 10:30 where Jesus says, "I and my Father are one." (NKJV) The Jews immediate response was to pick up rocks and prepare to stone him for what they considered to be blasphemy. Jesus makes many other such claims, and the rest of the New Testament is filled with even more. So, Jesus claims to be the Son of God, claims to be God, and claims to be the one and only way to fellowship with the Father. Then, a few hundred years later, God reveals the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad. The Koran says, among other things, "In blasphemy indeed are those who say that God is Christ the son of Mary" (Surah 5:17.) and "They do blaspheme who say: 'God is Christ the son of Mary.' But Christ said: 'O Children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord.' Whoever joins other gods with Allah, Allah will forbid him the Garden, and the Fire will be his abode." (5:72) So now we have two different revelations from that same God-being we talked about that each say that the other will spend eternity in hell because of their beliefs. The Koran actually calls for the death of anyone who ascribes a partner to God. How can these two statements, which, whether justified or not, have sparked thousands of years of war, come from the same God who revealed to the Hindus that every path was valid? Every path is right, true and equally valid, which means that everything Jesus said is true and everything Muhammad preached is true and everything I'm saying now is true and it is entirely plausible that Pauly Shore or Charles Manson can lead you to heaven if you just sincerely believe them! Right? If everything is true, then what Jesus said is true, and then everything is not true? Now my head's exploding!
Like I said, it would all come back to "Jesus says..." I know that there is nothing that I or anybody else can say to anybody that will prove the existence of any god, or prove the correctness of my particular path to him. But I take it on faith. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) He says in John 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Can I prove it? No, but that doesn't nullify it. Am I wrong? Although I believe with all my heart and soul that Jesus is the only way to God, I guess logically, I could be wrong. But that is what faith is all about. God is everywhere. I believe that also. So one path to everywhere may seem to be a paradox that my finite human mind cannot begin to figure out, but then so are the Trinity, the virgin birth, the resurrection, or how a Holy God can give his life so that an unholy wretch like me can find salvation. Even if God is everywhere, there is only one door to him, and the key that opens that door is Jesus Christ. Take it or leave it, believe it or don't. Morpheus in "The Matrix: Reloaded" was reminded that not everyone believed in the same things he did and he replied, "My beliefs do not require them to."
Sorry about this little rant of mine. I am working on new stories and poems. They'll be up soon.
God Bless you all!
ARB
And, if anyone out there wants to argue with me, please do. It's fun! But please watch your language as you do so, or I'll have to delete you!

Stikora

It had been a rough three months since Jared the Dragon Slayer and Zede the Ferocious had seen their homes. They had left on a mission to free some merchants who were being held captive by a herd of monstrous creatures the likes of which even Jared had never seen. Jared and Zede arrived in time to save most of the merchants and, as usual, denied all payment. They were heading back home when they were side-tracked by a troll who was ransacking a small village, a gang of goblins who had taken refuge in a dark cave and were dragging travelers from the road to either enslave them or eat them, depending on their size, and as the lead goblin had said, their tenderness, and finally a dragon had sought them out when they were about a week from their village, seeking vengeance on a relative they had vanquished a few years earlier. So, they were eager to get home and rest for a few days before their services were required again, and they were not at all pleased when they were yet again side-tracked.
They had camped out on a hill that was within sight of the small house they shared outside of the village of Chan, planning to make the final stretch of the journey at dawn. No sooner had Zede begun roasting his catch of rabbit meat over the fire when they heard a man desperately calling out Jared's name as he ran towards them on the road.
"Jared!" he shouted. "Thank heaven, it is you! You have to help me!"
He reached the fire and the ever suspicious Zede had him tackled and pinned before he could catch his breath. Jared went over and told the dwarf to release him.
"It could be a trick, Jared!" Zede protested.
"It's not," Jared said. This was good enough for Zede, who was well aware of Jared's ability to sense evil. Jared sensed something strange from this man, but nothing dangerous. Zede stood and the man got up and brushed himself off.
"I've been looking for you for days," he said. "The villagers told me that you were gone on a mission, but that you would return soon. I've been waiting nearly a week."
"What can we do for you?" Jared asked him.
"My name is David," he said, "and I am being terrorized in my own home by some sort of demon or monster."
"In your home?" Zede asked.
"Yes!" David said. His eyes were wide with terror and he looked around warily as if whatever was haunting his house could hear him. "It's huge and monstrous and it's demanding flesh! I've been able to ward it off with animals like dogs or goats, but it told me that it wants human meat and if I don't find something to feed it soon, it will eat me."
"How did it get in your house?" Jared asked him.
"I...I don't know," David said. "I just woke up one night and it was there!"
Jared pondered this for a moment. It wasn't unheard of for such creatures to come into a home unannounced and uninvited and start terrorizing the occupants. He had heard the same story dozens of times. But this time something was wrong. He could sense something from the desperate man begging his help that told the dragon slayer that David knew exactly how the monster had gotten into his home. He wouldn't say anything yet. If it proved important, he would press David for answers later. Right now, the priority was to rid the house of the monster and, if possible, kill it before it harmed anyone.
"Where do you live?" Jared asked. Zede sighed. The dwarf had been hoping to get home soon and sleep in his own bed. But they had a job to do and Zede knew that they must do it.
"About a day's journey to the north," David replied. "Will you please help me."
"Of course," Jared said. "We'll leave in the morning. Now, my friend here has caught us some dinner, if you would care to join us."
Zede split the meat between the three of them and when they were done eating, David curled up a few feet from the fire and fell into a fast sleep. Zede sat next to Jared.
"Blasted monster!" he grumbled. "I want to go home!"
"So do I, Zede," Jared said. "But you know the life we've chosen can be inconvenient at times."
"Aye," the dwarf said. "What kind of beast do you think this is?"
"I don't know," Jared said. "But one thing I do know is that David isn't telling us everything."
"You think he's in league with this beast?" Zede asked.
"No," Jared said. "I would have sensed that. But there is something. He feels guilty about something. He knows how that monster got into his home, and if it does harm somebody, he will feel responsible."
* * * * *
The next morning they set off away from Chan to the north. David described the monster as they traveled. From its description, Jared was quite certain that it was a Stikora, a cave dwelling creature, half demon and half bear, which fed on human flesh and was purely evil. It would also be very difficult to kill. Jared didn't mention it to David, but he knew that Stikoras hardly ever ventured from their caves. These enchanted creatures were all but invincible in their own lairs and quite vulnerable outside of them. No Stikora would venture out of its cave unless it was in desperate need of food. Unless David lived so close to a cave that he could spit into it from his back porch, Jared was sure that this monster didn't just wander into his house one night while he slept.
"And it's how big?" Jared asked.
"Ten feet high at least," David said. "It was smaller when...it was smaller before, but since it made me start feeding it, it's grown very quickly. It's filling my entire front room now. Do you think that you can kill it, Jared?"
"We've killed bigger things," Zede said proudly.
"And since it's out of its cave," Jared said, eyeing David closely for a reaction, "we should have no trouble with it."
"Yeah," David said, turning away slightly as they walked. "That's good."
"David," Jared said, "is there something you should tell me?"
"No," David replied. "No, nothing. I've told you everything."
Jared let it rest again, but he was convinced now that whatever David was hiding would be essential to this monster's defeat. Zede knew it too, and the usually chatty dwarf became very cold toward their companion, barely answering his questions with a grunt.
They reached a small cottage in a clearing about twelve hours after they left and David said that it was his home. It looked normal enough from the outside, but Jared knew immediately that a great evil was inside. He could sense its total depravity and an almost overwhelming hunger. He also sensed something else that frightened him. He had come across Stikoras before, and whenever he found one away from its own cave it was always on edge, very cautious, even afraid in its vulnerability. Jared sensed nothing like that here. What he felt inside that house was a completely secure beast, unafraid of anything. The Stikora considered David's home to be his lair, and judging by its strength and power, it was right.
Jared had never tried to vanquish one inside its cave before. They were no threat as long as no one wandered in or they didn't come out for some reason. He wasn't sure if even he could defeat a secure Stikora.
"Well," David said, almost pleading, "aren't you going to go in there and kill it?"
"We sure are!" Zede said, sword drawn, but Jared put a hand on his shoulder and stopped the dwarf's charge.
"Wait, Zede," Jared said. He turned to David. "There is something that you haven't told me, David, and unless you are completely honest with me, I cannot help you."
"What?" David asked. Jared turned to leave and Zede, obviously disappointed that there would be no bloodshed that day, followed. David ran after them. "I told you everything!"
"Do not lie to me," Jared said, never turning back. "You know of my power. I can sense your dishonesty."
"But, Jared!"
Zede turned around and grabbed the man's shirt collar. Pulling him down so that he could look into his terrified eyes, "If Jared says you are lying, then you are lying. And if you are lying, we cannot help you. Now, if you're in league with that beast-"
"I'm not!" David shouted. "I swear it!"
Jared turned then and said, "Then what is it I sense? Why does the Stikora consider your home its lair?"
"I don't know," David said. "Maybe because it's been there since..."
"Since when?" Zede demanded.
David looked at the ground and sighed. When he looked back up again, there were tears in his eyes and Jared sensed that he was about to be completely honest with him at last.
"Since I brought him there."
"Since you what?" Zede asked.
"Of course," Jared said. "It makes sense now."
"What makes sense?" Zede asked. "Are you going to tell me what's going on here? Are we going to kill something or what?"
"Calm down, Zede," Jared said. "If David tells us the truth now, we may indeed kill something today."
Zede smiled. "Go on, then," he told David, "and pray it's not you we slay tonight!"
"About a year ago," David began, "I was visiting a friend in a nearby village. On my way home I was caught in a rainstorm and spent the night in a cave for shelter. I had checked it out and it seemed safe. I was woken up in the middle of the night by something small and furry scurrying against my leg. I looked down, and there it was."
"The Stikora," Jared said. David nodded.
"And you didn't know what it was?" Zede asked.
"I knew exactly what it was," David said. "I had seen one before when I was a child. In fact, I barely escaped it. But this one was so small and helpless. Just a baby. It was actually kind of cute."
"Cute?" Zede asked. "That beastly thing? Those monsters would gladly eat a nursery full of babies for a midnight snack, and you thought it was cute? Well, I'll be a fairy princess!"
"It was so small," David repeated. "I thought I could tame it. I thought that if I raised it from a baby and only fed it small animals, it wouldn't grow into a man eating demon-beast."
"You thought that you could control it?" Jared asked.
"I did for a while," David said. "I thought it actually liked me. As long as I provided it with mice and small birds, it would let me hold it, pet it. Then it started growing. I had to feed it rats, then cats, dogs, sheep, and goats. A month ago it was no longer satisfied with anything smaller than a full grown cow. I used to have livestock here, but as you can see," he pointed back to his house, surrounded by an acre of empty land. There was no animal to be seen. "It still acted like it liked me though. I hadn't realized it yet, but it was controlling me. My life was spent finding food for it. I could still pet it and play with it, though it was bigger than me, and it still looked kind of cute to me.
"Two weeks ago, it spoke. It had never done that before. I was almost proud of it, especially when it called me 'father,' but it told me that it was tired of animal meat and it wanted human. It told me to bring it a human child within a week or else it would eat me!"
"And so you left to find us," Jared said.
"Not yet," he said. "I spent a day or two trying to figure out where I would find a child."
"You did what?" Zede yelled, reaching for his weapon.
"I told you, it was controlling me!" David said quickly. "It didn't cast a spell on me or anything, but it might as well have! I loved it! I wanted to please it. I thought that maybe just one child wouldn't be terribly missed and then it would get its manlust out of its system and return to cattle."
"Don't tell me you-" Zede began.
"He didn't, Zede," Jared said. "I would know."
"He's right," David said. "I didn't feed it a child. I came to my senses and my own thoughts scared me. I realized that what I had in my house was no longer a cute little pet. It was a full grown demonspawn monster and it was pure evil. I couldn't control it, I couldn't satisfy it, and I if allowed myself to continue serving it, I would be no better than it was."
"So then you came for us?" Zede asked.
"Not yet," he said again. "I told you, I loved it. I didn't want to lose it. So I tried to reason with it. I told it that I couldn't bring it a human child, but I would get whatever else it wanted. I tried to remind it that I had brought it up since it was a baby and that it considered me its father. I hoped that I wouldn't have to get rid of it. It turned on me. It told me that the house was his lair and that I was a guest there. If I didn't feed it, it would feed on me. I told it to get out, but it didn't obey me. For the first time since I brought it home that day, it didn't obey me! It did this to me..." he rolled up his left shirt sleeve to reveal a freshly healing wound that Jared immediately recognized as the bite of a full grown Stikora's six inch fangs.
"And that's when I left to find you."
"Thank you for your honesty," Jared told the man, "but you know that you are a fool. No man can tame a beast like that. What made you think you could control it? Especially knowing exactly what you were dealing with!"
"It was so small!"
"Yeah, well it grew, didn't it?" Zede said. "Monsters and demons like that always do. You should have left it in that cave. You should have dragged it out and killed it. Instead, you raised it, loved it, and before you knew it, had become its slave!"
"I know!" David cried. "I know! And I know I don't deserve your help! But please, I don't know what else to do. Can you kill it?"
"I don't know," Jared admitted.
"Can you at least get it out of my house?" he asked.
"We'll try," Jared said.
"What?" Zede asked his friend. "Are you daft, man? A full grown Stikora in its own lair? You might as well go against as army of dragons with nothing but a wooden spoon! That man took the thing into its home. I say that we leave it there. He got himself into this mess, let him get himself out!"
"We've never turned away from someone who asked for our help," Jared told him. "We've even helped those who have refused our help. I agree that David got himself caught up in this through his own folly. He's admitted that himself. But now he realizes his mistakes and is willing to do whatever it takes to rectify them before somebody gets killed." He turned to David, "Are you not?"
"I am!" David said. "I swear it by the stars themselves! Whatever it takes!"
"Good," Jared said. "Let's go."
He started heading back to the cottage and the other two followed. The evil and the power coming from that small structure was almost overwhelming Jared as he approached and for the first time in a long time, he felt real fear. But, for the first time in a long time, he knew that he wouldn't have to face the monster himself.
"Zede," he told the dwarf, "start a fire."
"You want to eat now?"
"Not for food," Jared said. "Start a fire and bring me a torch."
The good wizard who guided the two dragon slayers and had provided them with their magic arrows had also given Zede a bag of seeds that when broken sparked. If that spark came across any combustible material, it would catch fire. He did this now on a small pile of leaves and soon a good sized fire was burning. He took a branch from a nearby tree, set its tip ablaze, and brought the torch to Jared.
"What are you going to do?" David asked him.
"Nothing," Jared said. He held the torch out to David. "You are going to burn your house to the ground."
"What?" David asked. "I've lived here for twenty years!"
"Unless you want that beast to control you for the rest of your life," Jared told him, "you will burn the house down."
David didn't take the torch. He stared at the flames as if he had never seen fire before. "Do I have to do this? Isn't there some other way?"
"It's not your house anymore," Jared said. "It's the Stikora's lair. You can always rebuild. You can rebuild the house and your life, but not if that thing is still there. Stikora's are powerful, and once they have a grip on you, you can never be free. You must kill it, and in order to kill it, you have to get it out of its lair."
"Then get it out of there!" David yelled. "I'll kill it myself if you can get it out!"
"I can't," Jared said. "It's power is greater than anything I can do while it is in its own home, especially since you invited it in and gave it free run of the place. But if you take away the lair, the monster is as weak as an ordinary animal and can be defeated." David still hesitated and the flame was almost flickering out. "You said that you would do whatever it took. Now, do it!"
David took the torch from the dragon slayer. Slowly, he approached his cottage. A deafening roar came from inside as the Stikora realized what was about to happen. The roar seemed to penetrate David's heart as a child's cry would his mother's, but he still held the torch to the straw of the cottage's roof. Seconds later, the roof was aflame and the fire would soon consume the entire building. The monster continued to roar in rage and they could make out its frightening shape among the flames as it thrashed about. The flames wouldn't kill it, but being connected to the home as it was, its destruction was agonizing to the beast, as was the knowledge that once the house was gone, so would be most of its strength and power.
"Are you sure this will work?" David asked.
"All Stikora's were defeated in a glorious battle centuries ago," Jared said, though this knowledge was common, especially to a man like David who was familiar with the creatures. "That is why they are stuck inside their caves. That defeat robbed them of their power and their control over anyone who doesn't willfully give it over, like you did. Away from the shelter you provided it, it will be just another defeated monster awaiting the final blow."
"Which I have to give?" David said. This was only half a question. Jared nodded and reached for the dagger he kept on his belt. He handed the weapon to David.
"Zede and I will subdue the beast," he said. "Then, you strike. Since it is your master, only your blow can kill it. Are you ready?"
"No," David said, looking sadly at the blade in his hand, "but I'll do it anyway."
The house burned for about half an hour, then was nothing but ash. David watched as everything he had was consumed in the flames. In the center of the ashes was what looked like a gigantic bear with blood red horns on its head and along its spine. It was curled up in a ball, growling in rage.
"Now, Zede!" Jared said. Jared and Zede approached the monster. In its cave, it would have been invincible. With its protection gone, it had the strength of any other bear its size, which was still great, but nothing that Jared and Zede couldn't handle. When they got close enough to strike at it with their weapons, the thing rose up and gave a roar that shook the leaves in the nearby trees. It swung at Zede, who rolled out of its way and struck at it with his sword, wounding its arm. It then turned on Jared, who held his axe ready. Knowing that he was incapable of killing the animal, he brought the axe down, burying it in the giant head. It fell under the blow and lay there moaning. Zede came to it and stuck his sword deep into its back.
Had this monster not had a human slave, it would have been dead. But in controlling David, it had given him a small portion of its power. Now, that slave had to make the final decision to free himself from the demonbeast. David came slowly to the animal with the dagger in his hand. He raised it high over his head, ready to strike the beast between its shining red eyes, and paused.
"What's wrong?" Zede asked. "Kill the blasted thing!"
"I can't do it," David said. "I still love it."
The Stikora looked up at David and said in an almost childlike voice, "Father? I love you!"
"Don't listen to it!" Jared told him. "It doesn't love you! It would eat you in a second if we hadn't beat it down! Now, kill the monster, unless you want to be its slave for the rest of your life!"
"Father?" the monster said again.
"I am not your father," David said, and he brought the knife down hard, driving it between the Stikora's eyes. "And I am no longer your slave!"
The Stikora let out a hideous shriek as its massive body shook, throwing the dragon slayer and the dwarf from its back. Then, it burst into red flames and was consumed, leaving nothing but smoking red dust. It was dead.
David fell backwards to the ground and began to weep. Even Jared with his magical sense couldn't tell if David was weeping for the lost beast or because he was finally free. Maybe it was both. He stood and walked to the man.
"You did well," Jared said. "You lost everything you had, but that is the price you had to pay for this folly of yours. Now, you can rebuild your life. But remember, next time some little demon comes across your path, you cannot control evil. Try, and it will control you. Had you rid yourself of the Stikora a year ago, or better yet, had you never invited it into your home in the first place, you would not have had to suffer so."
David nodded. He handed the dagger up to Jared. It was stained with black blood and smoking. Jared took the blade and threw it into the Stikora's ashes where it also was consumed with red flames and disappeared.
"Come, Zede," Jared said. "Let's go home."
The two left David in the clearing besides the remnants of his life. They could hear the sound of his weeping for about half an hour. When they finally got away from the sound, Zede grunted.
"That fool," he said. "What would make him think he could handle even a little demon?"
"Evil is deceptive," Jared said. "I have no doubt that the baby Stikora was indeed cute. He honestly loved that monster too. I wouldn't be surprised if he went out in search of another one."
"You don't think he learned his lesson?"
"I hope he has," Jared said. "Only time will tell. But if he does give his life over to evil again, I don't think anybody will be able to help him."

author's note

Before anybody starts leaving comments about any doctrinal problems with "Stikora"... No allegory is ever one hundred percent perfect. That's why Jesus told so many parables. If he could have explained the entire "Kingdom of God" in one short story, he would have. Like the other dragon slayer story, this one deals with sin. Instead of denying that sin is there, like the villagers in "There is no Dragon," the man in "Stikora" admits it's there and wants to get rid of it. Like so many of us (all of us actually, if you look at it completely honestly), he actually invited the sin into his life thinking that he could handle it. He knew what he was dealing with, but thought that somehow, this little monster would be different, or that he could control it, but he became its slave. And, like many of us, he loved it. It's not easy to be freed from sin, no matter how much we hate it or are afraid of what it'll make us do. I touched on this in "The Old Man" asking the question, "How can I be free from a prison I love?" Well, Jesus can free us. We may still desire our sinful lives, which is perfectly normal (read Romans 6-8 if you don't believe me), but as long as we are willing to let go of it, give it and the rest of our lives to God, and never go back, we can be free.
No one can really control evil, no matter how strong you think you are or how minor you think the sin is. Sooner or later, you will find that your sin is controlling you. The Deliverer can and will save you, though. All you have to do is ask...
God bless, Arthur B Roberts