Beautiful in the Lord's Eyes

by Susan Kohler

  Adam went through chapter 19. “And the armies in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in clean white, fine linen. And a sharp sword came out of His mouth, to smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron and crush the evil with the fury of Almighty God. He has on his clothes KING OF KING AND LORD OF LORDS written on the thigh. John saw an angel standing in the sun, calling the birds to gather for the supper of God. So that they could eat the flesh of kings, and captives, of men and horses, and the flesh of all men, free and bond, great and small. And John saw a beast with the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against him and his army.”

  “Fools,” Nicole interjected. “Damned fools.”

  “Exactly. The beast was taken, along with the false prophet, and the two of them were cast alive into a lake of fire and brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of him that sat on the horse, and the birds were filled with their flesh.”

  “John saw an angel come down from heaven, with the key to the bottomless pit and a huge chain in his hand,” Nicole said as she started chapter twenty. “He laid ahold of the dragon, Satan, and bound him for a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, so that he could not deceive anyone anymore, for the next thousand years. After that he must be set loose for a while. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them had the power of judgment given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, or received the mark on their foreheads or their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Blessed and holy are the ones that are part of the first resurrection: the second death has no power over them, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are over, Satan shall be freed from his prison. He shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, all of the unsaved. He will gather them together to battle, the number of them is so many they are as there are grains of sand in the sea, uncountable. And they went up on earth, and circled the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Jerusalem. Fire came down from God and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they all shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead who were raised stand before God. The books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

  She paused. “And the sea gave up the dead, and Hell delivered up the dead who were there and every man was judged by his works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life they were cast into the lake of fire.”

  Adam continued, “And I saw a new heaven and earth: for the first heaven and earth were gone and there was no more sea. John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and be their God.” Adam said, “What a vision that must be. And God shall wipe the tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death or sorrow, or crying, or pain: for these are gone. And he that sat upon the throne, was it Jesus?”

  “I think so,” Nicole replied.

  “He said: See, I make all things new and He told John to write it, for this is true. And he told John, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to him that thirsts water from the fountain of the water of life. He that conquers his sinful nature will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the cowards and unbelievers, the evil ones will wind up in the lake of fire and brimstone. This is the second death.”

  “And one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, came to John and said: Come hither, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried John, in spirit, to a high mountain and showed him the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God having the glory of God. Her light was like a precious stone. There was a great wall with twelve gates with an angel at each of the gates and the names written on the gates were the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, named for the twelve apostles. And the angel with John had a golden reed to measure the city, the gates, and the wall. And the building in the wall was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. And the foundations of the walls were adorned with precious stones. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. And the city didn’t need the sun or moon for the glory of God lit it, and the Lamb is the light. And those nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth bring glory and honor into it. And the gates will be shut by day and there will not be night there. They shall bring glory and honor into it, and nothing that can defile or work an abomination will enter, only those which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

  Adam started, “In Revelation 22, John is shown a pure river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb. The river, to me, sounds like salvation coming from the throne of God and the Lamb. And the tree of life, is that eternal life?”

  “I think so,” Nicole replied. “And I think the fruits are abundance, or all we need.”

  “And there will be no more curses but God and Jesus will rule and the servants, or followers of Jesus will worship him,” Adam continued. “And they will be close enough to God to see his face, and the seal marks them as belonging to God.”

  “The light of God’s presence is all the light they need. And this freedom and abundance will continue forever,” Nicole added. “And, behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Revelation 22:7,is about the second coming.”

  “Agreed. So when John saw and heard all of this, he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who told him: don’t worship me, we are fellow servants of God and the brethren, worship God. Don’t keep these prophesies hidden or sealed away, because the time is coming soon. It sounds fairly clear to me,” Adam said. He then read, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:12-14.”

  “The holy spirit and the bride, the bride is the church, say come; let whoever hears come to take the water of life freely,” Nicole continued the chapter. “And then comes the warning: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19. Then Jesus tells us he’s coming quickly. And it ends with: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Revelation 22:21.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

  For years the prison visits continued and Adam grew in his walk with the Lord. He not only joined the prayer group but frequently led the discussions. He was still under attack by other Muslims who accused him of apostasy which was punishable, to the extremist Muslims in the prison, by death
. He was attacked several times, but he was never injured as severely as that first attack. The guards grew to know him and watched out for him as much as they could. Nicole finally admitted to herself that she and Adam were true friends. She still went to visit him at least once a week.

  Nicole also visited the families of her friends who were killed. She wanted them to know that by visiting Adam she was not forgetting their loved ones. Since they were all Christian families, they believed in forgiveness. It had been a real struggle for most of them, but they had come to peace with the tragedy. All of them had visited Adam in prison, but Hans’ family had visited Adam several times. In fact, Hans’ mother supported a lawyer who tried to get his sentence changed from life without parole to one with a possibility of parole. Still, even if the lawyer was successful, Adam would serve over fifty years.

  Nicole’s new business, the gym, continued to thrive. In fact, she now owned three gyms in three different towns, each with a children’s center next door. The children’s center held classes in dance aerobics, karate, and had basketball teams. All of the gyms followed her strict guidelines. There were no judgments, no focusing on weight loss or appearance, but instead placed an emphasis on self-esteem, confidence, and fitness. She had a full staff of trainers, counselors, and doctors on call at each location. There were dance aerobic classes, swimming, karate, and one location even had belly dancing classes.

  Her marriage was strong, and filled with joy and passion. She had another baby, a boy named Jacob Troy, bringing the grand total to four children, the twins fathered by Adam, and two more since she married Troy. Her brother David had three. Her mother got remarried, of course, to Sid, the man Kate and Laura introduced her to, and they were very happy.

  The only sad note was that Emily’s mother, Mae, passed away. Although she had been afflicted with senile dementia for years, she had also been a strong Christian. They held a simple graveside ceremony and laid her to rest next to her husband Pete. Emily mourned, of course, but she seemed to find peace in her pain. Nicole put a large part of her funds into building a women’s shelter. To her surprise, she was nominated by a local group for their Humanitarian of the Year award.

  As Adam grew in his faith, he continued to be a witness to the other inmates. By his fourth year in prison he was leading the Bible study group and teaching other inmates to read. He also began to work with the prison Chaplain and Pastor Mark, and when she could be there, Nicole.

  Nicole was always busy. It seemed as if she could handle anything life threw at her. She kept up her work on the anti-violence campaign and even wrangled permission from the prison superintendent to allow Adam to make his own public service announcement about the effects of domestic violence. Adam came across as compassionate and sincere. He spoke openly of what he had done and how much he regretted it. He talked about giving his life to Jesus. It was a powerful and simple message.

  Meanwhile, Nicole finished her certification for Physical Therapy. She planned to open another gym. And of course, she was busy with four children, plus the fur babies, both dogs and horses.

  She had a few models approach her asking her to manage their careers. Soon she opened a small modeling agency. Since she coached her models on professionalism along with modeling techniques, her models were well-liked and known in the industry for being extremely skilled.

  Life was going well.

  One day she was lying by the pool when a phone call came.

  “Nicole, this is Superintendent Thompkins from the prison. I wanted to inform you that Adam Hannan was attacked in the yard. He needs surgery right away or he will not be expected to survive. Even with the surgery it will be touch and go. The problem is he refuses to go into surgery until he sees you. Please come as soon as you can.”

  “Troy,” she called out, running upstairs to grab a dress, “Adam has been attacked, he might die and he’s asking to see me. Will you drive me there?”

  “Of course.” He called Julia, who had stayed on with David and Emily.

  Julia quickly came over to babysit the two youngest children. They packed the twins, who were now five years old, into their car seats, and started out. Along the way, Nicole pulled on the dress over her bathing suit, and then called Pastor Mark. He said he would leave right away and meet them there.

  Upon arriving at the prison they were escorted inside without having to pass through all the security measures they usually had to go through. This bypassing of established protocol alone heightened Nicole’s sense of urgency. When she got to the infirmary, all she could do was take Adam’s hand and pray with him. He was very weak. He knew he should go into surgery but he wanted to see Nicole first. By the time Nicole and Troy arrived, the surgeon just shook his head.

  “Too late,” he said quietly.

  Nicole was badly shaken. For a moment she could not find the right words to speak.

  Finally she managed to say, “You’ll be with Jesus soon. It will be all right.” Surprising even herself, there were tears on her cheeks. She held his hand and said the Lord’s Prayer.

  “I’m sorry,” he managed to whisper, “for everything.”

  “What you did took a lot from me, but I forgave you long ago. Now I think of you as a good friend and a true Christian.” She paused, thinking. “You took many things from me but you gave me a great gift, too. I have some new pictures to show you.”

  She pulled a picture from her purse. “Here are the beautiful son and daughter you gave me.”

  Adam was overcome at the pictures, they were getting so big! While he was staring at the images, she spoke to the prison superintendent.

  “They are in the waiting room with my husband, would it be all right for him to bring them in?” she asked quietly.

  “I’ll send for them.” He turned to a phone on the wall.

  “Nicole,” Adam managed, “are my children happy? Well loved?”

  “Yes, Adam, they are happy and will be raised in love,” she said softly. “I love them and so does Troy. He couldn’t love them more if he was their real father. They are both bright and happy, and they will be raised to love Jesus.”

  Troy came in with the twins holding his hands. They had been playing outside when the call came in, so they were covered with dirt. They looked at Adam with some suspicion but they were confident children and walked right over to him when Nicole reached out a shaking and trembling hand to them. Upon their approaching the father they never had an opportunity to know, he gently stroked their hair.

  “It’s good.” These were the last words he said while on this earth.

  Troy took the children back out.

  Pastor Mark and Rachel rushed in. They sat with Nicole and prayed as Adam’s breathing got rougher and slower. Rachel softly sang the old hymn, “How Great Thou Art.” Adam gave a few more rasping breaths, then his breathing ceased.

  Pastor Mark prayed, “Lord, please take this man who was first a prisoner to his false religion which had taught him to hate, and then a prisoner in this earthly prison that was the culmination of that hate. He is finally free of this earthly soil. Let him stand before our beloved Savior he has come to know and serve, even here in prison. He has repented of that horrific day where he took the life of Nicole’s friends. This man is a trophy of grace. Take him home to meet his victims from that fateful day and share in the joys of heaven with them as they all walk arm in arm in praise to the King of kings.”

  Adam found himself being welcomed into heaven by Hans, Ivan and Lacey.

  Two months later, Nicole went back to the prison to witness to the man who had killed Adam.

  “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.”

  (John 14:6)

  Other books by Susan Kohler

  The Heart of The Beast

  (historical romance novel)

  Working Romance

  (contemporary romance novel)

  Who’s Taming Who?

  (contemporary romance novel)

/>   Dreaming of Tomorrow

  (contemporary romance novel)

  Note to Readers

  Please visit my website at:

  http://sueotk2001.tripod.com/connectionpointewritings

  I have excerpts and information on my novels.

  Sue