Lina's Holy Struggle

by Gary Riner

  Chapter 3 Martyrs

  Lina’s guardian angel watched Lina’s mother’s and father’s guardian angel enter the room, and spoke the greeting, “Welcome servants of the most High.”

  The entering spirits replied, “Greetings, fellow servant of the Name.”

  “I take it that Lina’s parents have been delivered?”

  “Yes, both departed beautifully, and they arrived in the Presence as martyrs for the testimony of the risen Lamb.”

  “I wish you could have seen her mother’s departure,” said one of the recently arriving spirits, “It took two guards to help hold her upright and steady as she was escorted into the hangman’s cell.” The beating that she had endured made it impossible for her to walk upright without assistance. The hangman approached her and saw the swollen and battered face.

  He asked, “Have you repented and confessed your belief in Allah and the prophet?”

  She replied, mumbling through swollen lips, “I confess the One God that appeared to us as Yeshua the Messiah who now sits on the right hand of the Father.” The guard backhanded her, causing the corner of her swollen mouth to start gushing blood. “Do you think one more blow from you would cause me to confess a lie?” she asked softly.

  The hangman drew back to strike again but decided against it. “Now you will dance for us at the rope’s end while departing to torment with the infidels.”

  “I won’t dance for you, and to prove that Yeshua is Lord, I will keep my eyes on you while I depart. The hangman had the guards place her on the trapdoor and place the noose around her neck. The guards stepped back, awaiting the swift drop of the prisoner.

  The hangman had second thoughts, “A quick departure is too good for her.” He then ordered the guards, “Tighten the rope until she is lifted off the ground. She will endure slow strangulation instead of a quick broken neck.” Turning to face the woman he sneared, “You will literally dance for us.” The rope tightened until her feet were just inches off of the trapdoor. She shook her head ‘no’.

  She began to wonder if she had truly spoken what she had heard in her spirit. If she remained still and followed the hangman with her eyes she would know her words were from on High. She did not fear death at this juncture. She had been beaten until there was no point in wasting their time with her. There was no place on her body left to bruise or make bleed. Her only regret was leaving her Lina. The rope tightened, lifting her. There was minimal discomfort at first but her lungs began to burn. Her vision began to fade but her eyes continued to follow the hangman. “Father, I forgive him. I don’t want to enter Your presence with any unforgiveness in my heart,” she prayed

  The guards laughed as she began to swing slightly to one side and then the other. The laughing stopped as they noticed that she had not moved a muscle. They had seen many die this way, and they had all thrashed and kicked wildly as they slowly suffocated and died, except this one. The hangman looked at her face and noticed that her eyes followed him. He moved to see if it was caused by just a blank stare. Her eyes continued to follow him. Minutes passed as she slowly died. The pain had become great, but as her earthly life faded, her last glimpse was of the hangman frantically trying to open the cell door in order to escape the sight of her eyes following him.

  Chapter 4 Deny Yeshua? and ARRIVAL!

  The next day Achmed met with Lina again. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for the young girl that sat before him. She was a beauty. Her hair was shiny black and her eyes were as dark as rich chocolate. He had to convince her, so he came right to the point. “You will now repent of your foolishness and return to Allah and his prophet.”

  “I can’t,” Lina sobbed.

  He grabbed her arm causing her to look up at him startled, “Lina, listen to me. There is no option here. They won’t be gentle with you next time.”

  “Gentle? Do you know what they did to me?” Lina interjected, tears starting to flow.

  “You may think that was bad, but there is a group of men here who are very good at what they do. They will make you beg for the opportunity to repent even before they have touched you. You will repent and then become the wife of a strong Muslim man. He will keep you from foolishness and hell’s fires. The only thing in question is how much you wish to endure before you repent. Do you really think that you can endure a lengthy daily ‘Session’ indefinitely? I don’t know how long they will ‘work’ on you before they give you the opportunity to repent. They really enjoy their work.”

  She put her head down on the table sobbing bitterly. She remembered the Bible verse again, “If you deny me before men I will deny you before the Father.”

  “But Father, how much can I endure?” she prayed.

  She heard Achmed stand. “Lina, don’t do this. If you let me leave this room it is going to go badly for you.” There was silence for about thirty seconds and then the door closed. At the sound of the closing door, Lina jumped as if she had been shocked. How much could a 16 year old girl endure? She knew she would soon find out. The matron escorted her back to her cell. The lady patiently steadied a sobbing Lina as she walked along. The cell door seemed exceptionally loud as it clanged shut.

  The guardian continued the story of Lina’s mother. “She had expected at least temporary darkness to what she thought would be giving up her life. Brilliant light began to fill her being as her earthly vision faded. It was more like waking up than going to sleep. Her spirit became fully awake as the Creator had intended it from the beginning. She realized that Adam and Eve’s spirit had been alive this way in the garden when they walked with the Lord in the cool of the evening. What terror it must have been for them to die to the spirit and realize that they were merely physical bodies, and naked ones at that. She remembered the scripture about “absence of the body was to be present with the Lord”. She might have been absent from her body in earth time but not here. Her physical body was so much less than what she had become. It was as if her body had become little more than a position marker in an infinite unrestrained universe. Sort of like a bookmark or a pin marking the location on a map.

  The Lamb greeted her. She saw the nail marks in his wrist as he reached to embrace her. The length of the greeting was undeterminable in a place where time had no dominion. “I will now pronounce judgment upon you,” said the lamb to Lina’s mother. “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter in to the rest of the Lord.” When she opened her eyes, additional senses beyond the five that she had known became apparent. She saw colors and beauty unviewable and indescribable by humans yet to experience this new birth. Music of praise to the Lamb radiated from her and everyone else and everything. There around her were all of her friends and loved ones. Her husband was there at her right hand. To her left were persons who have not yet departed in the time as those on earth experience it and will not therefore be described here.

  Lina’s mother’s guardian continued, “I never tire of stepping into the realm unbound by time to watch new arrivals. What a privilege it is to see again the Lamb enter into the Father’s presence and pour out a measure of his shed blood onto the brazen altar. Everyone falls to their face as the fragrance of Salvation permeates everything of consequence.”

  “Her father also followed his faith to the end. The Indwelling Spirit allowed Nasim to see me near the end,” said his guardian angel. “He saw me escort him to the room. He could also see the evil spirits cowering back in fear as we passed. He would soon be welcomed into the Presence. The evil spirits only had judgement to anticipate, I pointed up as they placed the noose around his neck. Nasim smiled broadly to the dismay of his executioners.”

  “There are new assignments for us and we see that you are to be busy here for some time. May the blessing of the Name follow you,” replied Lina’s guardian. “And to you our friend,” came from the two departing spirits.

  The matron returned for her the following day. Tears filled Lina’s eyes as she was led through the corridor. “I’m sorry,” the lady said in an almost
inaudible volume. Lina only nodded in acknowledgement of the statement. Lina’s guardian entered the room in front of her. Her tormenters were waiting for her when the interrogation room door was opened.

  Chills ran up her back as one of them spoke, “Come in, my dear, we have been expecting you.” Sheer terror filled her as she looked into the face of the one who spoke. Achmed was right. These men enjoy what they do. It occurred to her that they were demon possessed and enjoyed torturing those that belonged to the Creator. It would be terrifying if they only intended to kill her, but these two would see that “that” did not happen. “Sit down, my dear, so we can get started.” The chair was a heavy wooden affair. Lina’s ankles and wrists were bound. No hood was placed over her head. They wanted her to see exactly what was going to happen to her. Nausea filled her as she continued to tremble violently.

  “They are feeding off your fear,” she realized, but she was unable to calm herself.

  “Let me show you some of our toys,” the man began again, holding up a familiar tool that Lina did not recognize at first. “This is for removing teeth. We will be glad to start with any that have cavities first.” The laughing that followed unnerved her further. “You won’t need any of your teeth for the gruel that they serve here. But I must warn you,” he continued in a singsong tone and swinging the instrument, “we aren’t the best dentists. Sometimes we break off the tooth and only get about half of it. And the tooth roots are hard to find without gouging around and causing too much bleeding.” Lina retched as the two smiled at each other. “Now let me continue. This is a cable cutter. You can see the groove right here that keeps the cable, or in this case bone, from slipping out before the cut is complete.” There was red blood still on the tool, she could see that it had been used recently. “We don’t just snap it quickly,” he continued, “we like to do it slow. That is the best part, hearing the bone crackle very slowly. We will even let you decide where we begin,” he paused then pointed, “Which would you like first, fingers or toes?”

  Lina retched a couple more times and managed to get out, “I’ll do it. I want to repent.” She knew she would not be able to endure what they were going to do to her.

  He looked at her with mock disappointment. “Don’t be like that. You haven’t seen all of the instruments that we will be using on you, ‘today’. We will spend many days together, and we will grow fond of the sound of your screams.” He smiled and continued, “This is an ordinary soldering iron. It works well to cauterize arteries and stop bleeding immediately.” He pressed it against a piece of wood. It hissed and smoke wafted up. “It also works to engrave verses from the Koran on skin. You won’t forget any verses engraved that way. It works best when very hot. Sure is time consuming and hard to do neatly. It is hard to keep the subject, in this case, you, still. But we try as best we can.”

  “Please,” she choked out, “don’t do this to me, I want to repent.”

  Her guardian angel halted the evil spirits that were indwelling the tormenters with a forceful command. “No, you are not to mark her body in any way.”

  “She is ours now,” replied the loathsome spirits. “We can do with her as we please.”

  “Not without the Exalted’s permission,” came the angel’s reply.

  The evil spirits relented, “Very well, have it His way. She will be totally ours soon enough.”

  “Not so fast my dear. We take our work very seriously and enjoy it immensely, and we will want to find out if you sincerely want to repent. Let’s try a full week of sessions, and then you can decide. What do you say?”

  “No, no,” she said as she retched again. “I want to repent now, please!”

  “Well, my friend here and I just don’t want to hear a repentance so soon and this early in the day. We would just have to start all over with someone else. I only have one more toy to show you ‘today’.” He smiled at Lina and then to her guardian. It looked like a night stick that a policeman might carry. He held the end of it up about two fingers away from her face. A very loud sizzling blue arc danced around the end of the stick. It imparted a strange burnt smell to the air. Lina pressed her head against the back of the chair to avoid contact. Her mouth was wide in a silent scream. “One million volts of nerve tingling power, I just love this stick.”

  “I repent! I repent! Please no!” He walked around the chair behind her. She turned her head to follow him until he was out of sight. Something pressed into the back of her neck. “Please don’t,” her voice urgent and trembling. “Please let me rep..,” her plea was cut short as she convulsed and screamed jerkily in time with the electrical pulses. It felt as if something was ripping all the nerves from her body. It lasted forever. At least it seemed like forever, but in reality it was only about two seconds. Her head jerked forward as the electricity stopped. She convulsed occasionally as her nervous system sought to regain contact with her body.

  Achmed was leaning against the door of the interrogation room. There was a tear in his eyes in sympathy for the torment that Lina was going through. He hated hearing this. He was a devout Muslim, but had not volunteered to act as Lina’s kinsman. This was an assigned task. It was very hard for him, but if he did his job well it would go easier on the girl. He was sorry that it had proceeded to this point. He knocked on the door and entered after he heard Lina’s ragged scream. “Perhaps I can bring this to an end now,” he told himself. “Gentlemen, permit me to have a word with Lina.” They reluctantly stepped aside. It took the shaken girl a couple of minutes before she could keep her eyes on Achmed and give him her attention. “Lina, do you at this time wish to repent of your foolishness and confess your rightful faith in Allah?”

  “I do,” she said shakily glancing at the other two men. She certainly didn’t want to be left alone with them again. She knew that they would enjoy torturing her until she went insane. The thought terrified her beyond all description.

  “Then make your statement of faith,” Achmed said encouragingly.

  Her lips quivered as she spoke, “I am a believer in Allah and Mohammed his prophet.”

  “Do you renounce the foolish notion that the prophet Yeshua is the Son of God?” Achmed asked.

  “Yes,” she sobbed.

  “If you are not sure I can come back tomorrow,” he said as he began to stand.

  “No! no! no! please don’t leave,” she begged.

  “Then make your statement plainly before these witnesses.”

  “Before these witnesses I renounce faith in Yeshua as the Son of God.”

  “Do you swear before the One God on pain of hell’s fires forever with the unbelievers that the statements that you have made are true and irrevocable?”

  “I swear it,” Lina said as tears streamed down her face and dripped from her chin.

  Achmed turned to the two men, “You are witnesses?”

  “We are,” they both replied as they began to untie her.

  Chapter 5 Eternally Lost?

  “What have I done?” she asked herself. “I will deny you before my father,” Yeshua had said. She had denied Him before men, three people had witnessed it. “I am eternally doomed, an eternity separated from the loving Creator.” She began to sob bitterly as tears continued to stream down her face. “What have I done, what have I done?” she repeatedly asked herself.

  “She is ours,” jeered one of the spirits. “The One and his bastard Son have failed this time.”

  Lina’s guardian instantaneously drew its weapon and pressed it against the evil spirits throat. “What have you gained by a forced confession?” asked the guardian.

  The evil spirit cowered. He knew that one thrust and he would be sent to the abyss for eternity. “Mercy,” he whispered.

  “You would give none.”

  “Yes, it is not our way but it is the way of The One.” It took Lina’s guardian all its strength and will to lower the weapon. The loathsome spirit was right. Mercy was the way of The One.

  “Your replacement might
be filthier and viler than you are, so I will extend His mercy this time, but don’t depend on it when next we meet.”

  Achmed escorted her from the room meeting the matron at the door. They both patiently steadied her as she limped along. The trip back to her cell seemed much longer than usual. The matron opened the door revealing a room as beautiful as any in a fashion magazine. There were even clean clothes laid out on the bed. “Lina, I will see you tomorrow. I bid you ladies a good day,” Achmed said and promptly left.

  “A shower for you my child. We must get you cleaned up before you cause your room to smell.” The matron gathered Lina’s filthy clothes as the girl slowly stripped. Her filthy clothes, the last things that she owned, were thrown into the trash and taken away.

  The shower washed away the continued flow of tears, but the water was Heavenly after what had felt like months in the filthy cells. She did not know how long it had been. There had been no windows in her cell and the one small bare light bulb was on at all times. She found a beautiful robe hung on the back of the door which she put on after toweling dry and wrapping her hair in the smaller towel.

  The matron had returned by then, and began combing Lina’s hair. When it was dry, she helped Lina slip into her new clothes. There was a brilliant white pleated dress. It hung just to her ankles, and there was a multicolored silk scarf that she would wear if she left the room or had visitors. She would certainly be wearing it when Achmed returned tomorrow. If he hadn’t returned when he did, she would likely still be in that room with “THOSE” men. She shuddered at the thought.