Home

 

Text Box: “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.”                                                                                                              (Luke 16:22)   THE FIRST TWO MINUTES June 12, 2007   9:15 a.m. 600 Annabel Avenue Baltimore, Maryland, United States   Suddenly she felt lighter.  Or was she being pulled?  But the direction was up.   She had never had this sensation in all of her 78 years.   It felt as if she had no weight at all.   In fact, every sense she possessed was suddenly different.  Feeling.  Hearing.  Seeing.  Tasting.   All had been changed.   Her first thought was, “Maybe this is a weird dream.”  She looked down.  She saw the top of a woman’s head.  The woman was dressed in a nightgown, and was sitting upright in a chair.  Two people came into the room. First, a younger lady.  She could just see the top of her head too.   She thought, “Is it Sharon?”   And then the older man came in.  It was Billy, her husband of 60 years.   She knew him from every angle.   Sharon and Billy seemed to be very disturbed about something.  Rosemary tried to speak to them.  But there was no sound.   The new sensations were overwhelming, yet peaceful and beautiful at the same time.  On each side of her were the beings.  She had seen something resembling them in biblical paintings, but they were beyond anything any earthly artist could imagine.   They were the ones who were pulling her.  And the pull was also a different feeling.  It was more like being moved, or perhaps even escorted.  Rosemary looked into the face of one of the beings.   The face was as bright as light itself, and she knew that if she still had physical eyes, she would have been blinded instantly.  “Am I dead?” Rosemary addressed the one that seemed to be closer to her.  As soon as she said the words, she realized that it was not her voice that had pronounced them, or had even produced sounds from her mouth.  It was an entirely new way to communicate.  “Yes,” was the response.   “It is time.”   Rosemary’s impulse was to ask further, “Are you sure?” but she knew that compared to these beings she knew nothing at all, and to even ask this question would be out of place.   At once, there were other questions.   As she began to feel the movement now, the flow of her body with the angels, a flood of questions came to her.  These could not be silenced.   “But I just had the heart surgery,” Rosemary mildly protested.  “Everyone said I needed it, and even the doctor had said that the results were excellent.  Why did….why did my heart stop?”   Again, the same response came to her. “It is time.”  Yet, the brief reply this time was accompanied by further words.  “Rosemary, you were just given a special gift.   It is what so many humans long for, but not many receive,” the angel spoke to her.  “You traveled here completely free of pain.   You closed your eyes in that world, and opened them here.”   Things were beginning to clear a little.   “If we had left you there longer, your weak heart could have weakened completely and then produced terrible, excruciating pain.  Or it could have stopped just long enough to create a stroke, which would have left you paralyzed and unable to speak for the rest of your time there.  The toll on your family would have been very heavy.”   When the angel said the word “family,” Rosemary issued the remainder of her questions.   All were answered just as quickly as she spoke them.   “What about Jimmie?   He needs me to be there.   You know that he is still single and he calls me when anything comes to him.   Sometimes, I know it is for silly reasons.  Other times I know he just wants to talk.” “He will be alright,” the other angel spoke for the first time.   “He will come to rely upon other members of the family now, and he will reach out to the FATHER even more.  He will be taken care of.” “What about Dana and his family?   They need lots of help down in Florida.   They have two girls now.   Their needs are more than ever.” The response was immediate again.   “The FATHER knows exactly what they need.   He will provide for them too.”  “What about Don?   He is away in Korea.   I am not even sure if any of us have his phone number.   He is the one who always calls us.   And Vicki just got there to spend a happy vacation with him.   They will have to come back to the States, won’t they?   I don’t want to be the cause of disrupting their vacation.   Couldn’t you wait just a little longer before you take me?” The answer came again.  “No. We told you already that it was time.”  The angel spoke the negative without any rebuke.  The Being continued, “Don and Vicki will come back to the States right away.   They will not finish their vacation.  But do not worry about them.  FATHER is even now insuring the usually complicated process of re-arranging tickets to go smoothly.  They will be well.”  “How about Sharon and Danny?  And their boys?   They will need me a lot.  And Sharon will now have to do so much to take care of Billy, won’t she?”   When she said his name, a rush of new questions filled her.  “How will Billy do without me?  Will he be ok?   I think he will miss me.” “Yes.   He will be sad. He will be sadder than he has ever been in his whole life.  That’s how much he loved you.” “Oh… I thought so.   He was a good husband.  We enjoyed a long time together. But I don’t want to be the cause of his sadness.  Please let me stay longer for him.  Maybe I can make it easier for him.” “No,” came the even sweeter, more gentle reply this time.  “Staying longer for him will not make it easier.   He will be sad anytime you leave.  He loved you that much because you were a good wife to him.   There are not many like you in the world any more.  But know that your husband will be okay.  He will hurt for you the rest of his life, but he will continue.   FATHER designed the church for reasons just like this.  Billy will have many supporters around him.  There will be many who will hold him up and keep him going. He will be okay.” “I will see him again, won’t I?”  probed Rosemary. “Yes.”  Rosemary’s questions now satisfied, her thoughts turned to the journey ahead, to where the angels were taking her.   “Thank you for coming for me,” she said to them. “It is our pleasure to help you.   We will take you to see even more beautiful things shortly.   We want to help prepare you for that too.   No human can get there without at least one of us coming to help show the way.  So FATHER sends those of us who are free to bring the human to him.   If the person is especially good, He will send a few more.  For the truly great people, he sends several.”  At once, Rosemary felt the movement again as she began to travel, this time in an entirely new realm.  The living room and the green shingled house on Annabel Avenue, the place she had lived for 53 years, disappeared.  Gone were also Billy and Sharon and even her own former, now lifeless body upright in the chair.  She could see the two angels on either side of her more plainly now.   She thought, “Can there be things more beautiful than these to see?”  Then, when she looked behind to see where the house had been, she saw only lights - glittering, shining, all dazzlingly beautiful.  There were hundreds of thousands of them -  all angels, forming a line, shimmering off into the great distance, as far as she could see.  They were the heavenly entourage, all of them sent to escort her home.