Alias took pity on them and explained, “That tree is very special because it is the only tree in the garden that Adam and Eve are not allowed to eat from. It belongs to The Great One. There is a severe penalty for anyone who steals fruit from it. To do that would be the same as when Lucifer stole from him in The Before. You know what happened then!”
“We do indeed,” said Bear, remembering how Lucifer and his followers had been thrown out of the Good Place where the music was so wonderful.”
“We do indeed,” said Duncan, putting his head down between his paws.
CHAPTER SEVEN- A KINGDOM IS LOST
When Duncan and Bear looked up, they noticed that Adam and Eve were standing on the edge of the clearing, unaware that they were being watched. They were very beautiful with their kingly robes glowing in all their brilliance.
While the three friends and Alias were watching, someone else appeared on the scene. He stood close beside Eve and looked at her, as if she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Eve liked being looked at like that. He stood a little taller than she did and gave off a dazzling array of light.
“Oh no,” said Bear, who, as you know can be very wise. “Look at the light he is giving out. It’s not his light. It’s the light Eve is giving off being reflected back to her.” Alias spoke, “He is called Serpent. He has always been a thief and a liar.”
Serpent spoke very softly to Eve, as if she was the only person of importance on the whole earth. “Did I hear you correctly when you said you were not allowed to eat the fruit from this tree?”
So gently had Serpent spoken to her that she was already beginning to see things the way he saw them. She looked. Indeed, there was fruit on the tree, the most delicious, the most ‘I just must have some of that’ kind of fruit she had ever seen.
But Eve truly loved The Great One and wanted to do everything he asked of her. So she replied, “He certainly did say that we were not allowed to eat it. This tree belongs to him alone. He said that if we eat it we will die.”
“No, no, no,” Serpent said, “You must have misunderstood what he meant. I know The Great One very well and have known him for a long time. He is the most generous person that exists. There is nothing that he would not share with you. If you just take a little taste you will understand.”
Eve had fallen under the serpent’s spell. She reached out and picked just one fruit from the tree. She took just one bite. Her face lit up with surprise and delight. She handed it to Adam. He had seen the delight on his wife’s face and took a bite, and kept eating.
Suddenly Bailey and Duncan cried out together, “No, no, no.”
Bear began to cry and said, “No, no, no, no, oooh! No!”
They watched as Adam and his wife looked at each other in dismay. The royal garments of light were falling away from them. They were horrified. Nobody would accept their authority without the royal garments. This was their punishment for stealing from The Great One. They would no longer live in harmony forever, ruling the kingdom.
The kingdom that The Great One had given them to rule was fading away. It was mingling with the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness. There was disharmony. Again, it was like two different songs being sung at once, like the time Duncan and Bear had a fight and stood face to face shouting at each other and not listening to a word. It was all confusion, mingled with a great sense of loss.
Life for Adam, Eve and all the animals would be hard now. Tears would mix with happiness. Hard work would bring little reward and death would mingle with life.
There was great sadness throughout the land. The First Kingdom had come to an end.
Bailey opened her eyes. Mum was shaking her and saying something that sounded like, “Time to get up. Breakfast is ready.”
She knew that she was home.
TIME TO PAUSE AND EXPERIENCE
Firstly, quietly (or out loud) ask The Great One to stand beside you. Now, I want you to close your eyes and activate your imagination and go back to the part of the story in Chapter seven where you, as Adam or Eve (depending on your sex) have just eaten the fruit from the tree that belonged to The Great One alone. You are standing facing each other. You are lost in admiration of this glowing, light exuding partner you have been given to share life with. Now that garment of light and authority begins to fade and pool around your feet until it disappears completely. Become aware of what you are feeling and thinking at this time. If there is anything you wish to say to your partner or to The Great One say it quietly now.
Time to open your eyes and share with the group or, if you are alone write your reactions down. In this way, you will allow the adult within to assimilate the experience the child within has just had.
CHAPTER EIGHT- NEW FRIENDS
“Ouch,” said Bailey. She had just kicked her toe. She looked down and saw that she was wearing sandals which didn’t give her toes much protection and the ground was very rough. Her clothing was different too. She didn’t usually take a lot of notice of what she was wearing, but this did not look right, her mother would not approve. She was wearing some sort of rough gown, loosely thrown over her. However, she decided she liked it. It was cool and easy to wear.
All this seemed very strange but she was not really afraid. After all, she was getting used to strange things happening around her. She knew that she was in the somewhere else but had no idea where that was.
As she looked around in every direction a different kind of fear grew within her. Surely she could not have been brought here all by herself. She needed her friends. She was just about to call out when a voice close by said, “Aren’t you a beautiful dog?”
Bailey turned and walked toward the trees in the direction from which the voice had come. In a little clearing, stood a young woman. A large bear was standing beside her. Bear, Bailey thought. I have found you. Duncan was there also, doing a most peculiar thing.
He was standing on his hind legs with his front paws high up on the woman’s body. You might not think that this was very strange. Duncan was always doing this to people. What was strange was that he had his left ear pressed hard against the woman’s tummy.
Bailey came near and said, in a stern voice, “Duncan! What do you think you are doing?”
“I’m listening,” he said. “There is a heartbeat.”
“Of course there’s a heartbeat!” Bailey said, still speaking sternly. “Everybody has a heartbeat.”
“This is different. It’s small and fast. She is pregnant.” Bailey looked and could see that Duncan was right. The woman was going to have a baby.
The woman spoke. “My name is Mary.” She looked both sad and happy at the same time. She patted her tummy, “I already have a name for the child. He will be called Saviour. There is a long story that I should tell you.”
“It’s not a long story,” Duncan interrupted. “It’s a short story.” Duncan needed to prove that Bear was not the only one that could be wise. “This baby is different. It was not put in Mary’s tummy by a man. It was put there by The Great One himself. Mary is his mother. The Great One is his father.”
Bear’s face lit up in sudden excitement. “Yes! I see what is happening now. A new King is going to be born. It is like when Adam was made in the time of The First Kingdom, only different. With The Great One as his father he won’t inherit any of the bad stuff from Adam. He will be able to wear the royal robes.”
Suddenly, while they were standing there, the whole place seemed to ripple. It was a strange feeling, like being in a cup of water when somebody blows onto the water’s surface.
When the rippling stopped, they found themselves standing together on the edge of a river. A large crowd was watching two people who were standing in the water together. One of the two pushed the other down under the water and lifted him out again.
“What are they doing?” asked Bear.
Bailey thought about it. She had seen this done before. “It�
�s a hard one to understand,” she said. “I think it’s like a prayer to The Great One saying that you want to be one of his people. It’s also telling everyone watching that you are going to be part of his Kingdom.”
Duncan looked at her and said, “Phew! that was a big speech.” While they were watching what was happening, a voice that they had learned to recognise as that of The Great One, said very loudly from somewhere up above them, “I love this man. He is my son.” As he said the word ‘son,’ the Bailey Bunch felt the earth tremble.
This left no doubt in their minds that this man who had just gone down under the water and come back out again was the son of Mary whom they had met when they first arrived. He had grown to be a man while they were in the rippling.
Not everyone in the crowd heard the voice. Some thought it was thunder.
After hearing what the Great One had said, Bear said, “Wow! This has to be the beginning of something special for Saviour. He has come to reclaim the kingdom that was lost when Adam and Eve did that foolish thing.”
Then the rippling began again. They knew what this meant now and waited to see where it would take them. It took them to a place that was high up on a mountain. Looking around, Bailey and Bear said together, “I like it here, away from the crowds.” Duncan wasn’t so sure. “It’s lonely,” he said. He liked people around him. Then he picked up a scent and started following where his nose was leading him.
“Don’t go too far. We might need you,” Bailey said to his tail as it disappeared into the bushes.
Just then two people came into view, walking toward them. Bailey recognised one of them as Saviour. The other was vaguely familiar. She looked at him more closely and thought that it may have been Serpent, whom they had met in the garden. Duncan was thinking of nothing except the scent he had found in the bushes, but they knew that he would come if he was needed.
As they watched these two walking together they could see that Saviour was very tired. He looked as if the best thing that could happen to him would be a trip to Hungry Jacks followed by a long night’s sleep.
“So,” said Saviour’s companion, “it’s over a month since you had a good feed. You must be very hungry, but that’s easily fixed. Just look around; the answer to your hunger is right here. The Great One has made you king over everything. You have authority over everything that is around you! Tell a couple of these stones to become bread and you will have more than you need. It is yours to command.”
Saviour could see that many of the stones did look like loaves of bread. The idea was very appealing and he knew that he could do it. He did have the power to change the stones to bread.
He turned to the Prince of Darkness (for that is who his companion was,) and said, “There is something that satisfies my needs even more than food. It is to do what my father, The Great One, says. I have not heard him tell me to do this.”
Bear looked at Bailey and said with certainty in his voice, “He will not fall under the spell of the evil one like Adam did.” By this time Duncan had returned. He was shaking his head. It was hard for him to take in that there could be anything in the world more important than food.
Duncan was impressed. He said, “Saviour will not do anything except what he hears his father telling him to do. That is so different from what we saw in the garden when Eve was disobedient and did the foolish thing and lost the kingdom.”
CHAPTER NINE- BEAR SEES THE IMPOSSIBLE
“Oops,” said Duncan. “Were rippling again.”
They were now on some kind of pathway. Walking quickly, they soon caught up with a group of people. Saviour was at the centre of the group. He was talking to a man who was sitting on the ground. Still seated, the man looked up at Saviour pleading, “Make me well. I know you can do it.”
While Saviour and the seated man were talking, Duncan had been sniffing the man all over. He was good at sniffing out problems that needed healing. He often licked them better. He turned to Bear and Bailey and said, “Nobody can fix that. He has always been like that and always will be.” His leg was indeed small and twisted.
Then Saviour looked at the man and, putting his hand on his shoulder, said the silliest thing, “Stand up.”
Duncan gave a yelp, almost of pain. How could Saviour be so thoughtless and cruel? This man could not stand. There was no way he ever could.
As they watched, the impossible happened. The man rose slowly to his feet. Then, his face lit up. He had the happiest grin any of them had ever seen. He started jumping up and down and running around in circles, just like Duncan does when he gets excited. They looked and were not surprised by his reaction. He had something to get excited about; Both legs were now perfectly normal.
“That man could not stand,” Bear exclaimed. What he saw was impossible. As he tried to understand this, he felt that his wisdom had deserted him. What he had seen could not have happened.
“It is The Speaking come to us again, like we saw when everything was made and put in order at the beginning of time,” Duncan exclaimed. “The son of The Great One has the power of his father. He is bringing the kingdom back.”
Bailey had a flash of understanding. She said, “There is something like that in The Ancient Book of Writings. It says, ‘The Speaking became flesh and lived where we live.’ We are seeing it happen.”
The amazement and joy they were feeling grew even more the next day when something just as unexpected happened. They were watching when they saw Saviour take his three best friends away from the rest of the crowd. He led them away from the rest of his followers and took them up a track leading to the top of a mountain.
The Bailey Bunch was determined that they were not going to be left out of anything. They followed very quietly, being careful, all the time, not to be seen. They thought that if they were seen they would be sent back and there was no way they were going to miss what was happening.
On the top of the mountain Bailey and Duncan watched from where they were hidden in the grass. Bear was up a tree. He was too big to hide in the grass.
They continued to watch.
Saviour was standing a little way from his three friends when something strange and a little scary happened. His face began to glow with a bright light. Then he was shining all over, with a brightness that was both covering him and shining out from him.
For a while Bailey, Bear and Duncan were stunned by what was happening. Then they began to understand as they remembered the way Adam and his wife had once been clothed in light.
“The royal robes!” exclaimed Bear, a little too loudly.
“Ha, you have been discovered,” said a voice they had come to recognise as that of The Great One. “You must leave now.”
Immediately they found themselves in the rippling once more. It deposited them in a quiet place out in the country.
While they were waiting to see what would happen, they were joined by a familiar figure. It was their friend Alias, messenger of The Great One. He said that there were some things that he wanted to tell them before they went home and he had one more event for them to see.
He said, “Something happened between what you last saw and now. It was so sad that The Great One thought it best for you not to be there. I must tell you a little about it.
You know that not everyone loved Saviour, don’t you?”
“Yes,” said Bailey, “We noticed that most of the church people hated him.”
“You are both clever and observant,” Alias said. “They hated him so much that they reported him to the police and had him arrested for leading a rebellion against the Government…”
“He never did that!” Duncan said, quite upset.
“We know that, but that is what happened. The sad part is that he was arrested and sentenced to death.”
Bailey said, “Surely they could not kill him. His father would protect him.”
Alias continued, “It was part of what The Great One had planned. He d
ied, but because he never did anything except what his father asked of him, he was able to use death to take him right into the very centre of the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness – the place of death. If you had been able to stand there with him, you would have seen him, clothed in the royal garments of authority, standing face to face with the Prince of Darkness. There he claimed the kingdom back in the name of his father, The Great One.
Bailey broke in with a question in her voice, “You mean he came alive again.”
“Yes.” Alias said, “That is exactly what I mean. Death is no longer a prison that holds its victims for ever. It is an open doorway that we can go through to the better life with The Great One.”
It was Bailey who spoke next, “I’m glad that happened, but I am glad I wasn’t there to see it. However, I feel so much older and wiser now. I want you to know that if there is ever another battle, I want to be there to fight with Saviour.”
When Alias had stopped speaking, The Bailey Bunch noticed that they had been joined by a crowd of people. Saviour was among the crowd, talking to them. As they watched a most amazing thing happened. Saviour left the ground and rose up into the sky. He kept going until he was out of sight.
They stood in amazement. Then Bear said quietly, “He has gone home to his father, The Great One. His work here is done.”
Alias said, “How wise you are, Bear. Don’t be sad. He will come back when the time is right.”
It seemed to be at that moment that Bailey shook herself awake and heard her mother saying, “Don’t you look good this morning. You are glowing.”
Home is good.
CHAPTER TEN- THREE YEARS LATER
Bailey, Bear and Duncan were together in Bailey’s room. Bear was lying with his head on the floor and his feet on the bed. He was totally bored.
There was nothing to do. There hadn't been a pause in the rain for three days now. They wished they could go outside and play. “It’s so absolutely boring,” Bailey said.
The Biovantic Bear Page 3
