The Rule

“Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10:25)

 The little house stood overlooking the eternal void. It had always been in a spirit world of its own. Its occupants, the Godmother and the Godfather were the only couple in existence. Being spirit, they had no need for sustenance, they never aged and happily existed together in a spiritual love environment which they called Heaven.

The Godfather was a creative type of spirit and on many occasions developed innovative ideas which he discussed with the Godmother who he knew he could rely on to enhance and temper his inspirations into more practical possibilities.

While sitting on their back veranda enjoying the sweetness of the void that surrounded their spirit world, the Godfather spoke of wanting to exercise his creative powers. The Godmother listened while he talked on and on about galaxies, stars, planets and even the possibility of creating human forms who could one day join them in their heavenly spirit world.

The Godmother could see her partner was deeply serious about this latest conceptual idea and became even a little excited herself at the prospect of being involved in helping to develop such a grand scheme. Not wanting to place a dampener on this innovative idea, she decided she should at least offer the Godfather her support, but she felt there were a number of questions in her own mind that needed answering before any creative work should begin.

The Godmother felt the idea of the proposed human population in another realm seemed a bit far-fetched and asked the Godfather if he might elaborate more fully on his plan. As it happened, this part of the plan was a bit sketchy, so they both thought deeply about how such an idea might work.

Time passed.

During their discussions it was agreed that If a new civilisation was to eventuate, they decided it would be best to develop a simple Rule to be followed that would enable the humans to live harmoniously together and prepare them for an eventual life of happiness in the eternal spiritual heaven. Rather than refer to themselves as Godfather and Godmother in the Rule, they felt that, because they were spiritually One, they would just call themselves by the simple term of God.

The Rule they agreed upon was that ‘all humans should love their God with their whole heart, soul, strength and mind and that they must love each other as they love themselves’.

While the Godfather was all ready to vigorously commence his creation programme, the Godmother cautioned him to think about how these humans might react to this Rule of theirs in the longer term. She wondered how they would learn to understand what love was and how maintaining an allegiance to them as God might eventually wain.

As time was never a problem in their spiritual Heaven, these concerns, along with others, were discussed at length until what seemed like most of the foreseeable problems had been analysed and addressed. Although they both had some misgivings about what the concept of giving individuals ‘free will’ might have.

Together, God decided that a good idea might be to devise a trial in their spiritual heaven so they might gauge the effectiveness of this ‘free will’ and determine ways it might best be implemented within their eventual human society.  This seemed to be a very practical approach that could be taken before embarking on such a major construction and creation plan which, doubtlessly, would seriously change their own existence and also Heaven as they knew it.

And so, God set about creating a complete spiritual angelic civilisation within Heaven. A major concern was how individual angels would react to The Rule in their own way. Both the Godmother and the Godfather felt for the experiment to succeed, it would be necessary to have the angel’s personalities closely resemble those that it was envisaged the humans might possess. To help achieve this, each angel was given the ability to make decisions for themselves on the understanding that The Rule was to be adhered to at all times.

The Godly Rule was enacted and the Godfather and the Godmother watched with interest as their new angelic spirit families increased in number and spread to many parts of their Heavenly home.

Time passed.

Gabriel, one of the senior angels, came to the Eternal House of God to tell them some disturbing news. He sat with the Godfather and Godmother on their back veranda where they enjoyed the quietness of the void and told of how an insurrection was being planned by a rebel group of angels who objected to following the Godly Rule.

It seemed some of the angels were supporting Lucifer, a senior angel, who seemed more intent on promoting himself and sought to have all power and control. He scoffed at The Rule and threatened to get enough followers to support his cause and to take over the Eternal House of God.

God thanked Gabriel and told him that ‘good will always overcome evil’ and asked that he send the Archangel Michael to their home for a briefing.

In the meantime, Lucifer heard that Gabriel had paid a visit to God and reasoned he would have to act smartly or maybe his grand ambitions might be squashed before a blow was struck.

At the request of Lucifer, the Godfather and the Godmother met him at the front gate. There was no way he was being invited to sit out on the back veranda as a guest. Lucifer bowed and offered praise and honour to God, as he felt he was expected to do. The Godfather could see through the insincerity of this greeting and asked the purpose of the visit.

Lucifer’s opening remark proposed a deal with God. This was greeted with a smirk, as he was made well aware that deals were not done with those who flouted The Rule. Lucifer was made well aware that his rebellious activities among the other angels was already known by the Godfather and the Godmother. Lucifer cowered at the base of the gate.

He looked up and mentioned he had heard a whisper that God was looking to set up a whole new civilisation outside of spiritual heaven and he was hoping he might be able to assist in some way. He offered to completely repent for his wrongdoings and dob in all those angels who were his followers if he could be pardoned and set free to promote the wonder of the creator to those in the ‘new world’.

God was not fooled by this fiend and told him to wait while his punishment was determined. The Godfather motioned to the Godmother to come back inside to discuss how they might deal with Lucifer.

The Godfather had some serious misgivings about allowing Lucifer access to his proposed new world but he insisted that ‘good will always triumph over evil’ and if humans were to eventually join them in heaven, individual’s free will would need to be tested, just as the angels had been tested. He felt that allowing Lucifer to move among his creation would enable humans to more readily understand the value of ‘good’ as against the horrors of ‘evil’.

He was not naive enough to think that human weakness wouldn’t prevail in many situations, but he felt this would enable his human creation to recognise the wonder of their creator and what they stood to lose should they choose to follow Satan. In addition, God felt that this could also add to the devil’s frustrations and heighten his on-going punishment as sinners repented, which God believed they would.

Lucifer was admonished for his actions and told he would never again see the shining face of his God and that the beauty and wonders of heaven were closed to him forever. He would suffer severe loneliness and was banished to be a lone spirit in a world yet to be created where ‘good would always overcome evil’. God told him his punishment would continue for all eternity.

The devil could do nothing more than accept his lot and so he slinked away. Although inwardly feeling deeply wounded, he was still determined to do whatever he could to bring down the Eternal House of God by whatever means he might have at his disposal. What he didn’t know was the Godmother was already formulating a plan which would act as an insurance against his evil intensions.

Archangel Michael arrived and was given the commission to drive all of Lucifer’s followers to an enclosed compound to be annexed out of sight of the glory of heaven at the far end of the spiritual void. For them it would become one hell of an existence.  Michael was informed of Lucifer’s particular punishment and departed to summon his almighty army and fulfill God’s request.

With Lucifer out of the way, his followers capitulated to the might of Michael and his army. Amid cries and lamentations from Lucifer’s followers, God’s plan was promulgated and thus hell became a permanent place of punishment where the inhabitants would never again enjoy the wonder of God and the heaven they had previously known.

Time passed

Meanwhile, the Godmother discussed her plan with the Godfather. It involved bringing into existence a third member of their Godly family, whose main responsibility would be to love and care for the human population created as part of the Godfather’s proposed plan. This would extend, if necessary, even to becoming an integral part of the new civilisation in order to promote The Rule and the wonder of God.

The Godmother felt this integration would only need to occur if, like the angels, greed and a desire for power were to cause too many humans to turn away from God. The role of the third member would also include an ability to show anyone who sought it, ‘the way to the Father.’

Because this Spirit creation would come into being as a result of the mingling of their creation concepts, the Godfather and the Godmother thought it appropriate that they refer to this Spirit as their Son.

While the Godfather Spirit saw himself being referred to as The Father, God of Creation, he saw the Godmother spirit as his great Helper, God of Life, as she would breathe life into his creation. Because of his planned specific role, he saw the Spirit of their Son as the God of Humanity.

And thus, the three Spirits combined to became one God and the Blessed Trinity became a reality.

The Godfather agreed to the insurance concept and suggested the Son should be totally involved in the creation process as well, so he would be fully aware of all aspects of the complete project being proposed. He suggested that as the Son might be required to live out every word contained in The Rule he and the Godmother had devised, then it seemed appropriate that the Son should be referred to as ‘The Word’.

God felt all the eventualities within the plan had been considered and so the great creation of our world began. ‘In the beginning was The Word and The Word was with God and The Word was God’.

Scripture stories tell us of the creation of our wonderful world and everything in it, both visible and invisible. Light became available and the galaxies, stars and planets envisioned by the Godfather become a reality.  We learn of the separation of the lands and the seas. We marvel at the animals on the ground, the birds in the air and the fish in the sea. Seeds and plants and trees provided shelter and food. All was in readiness for the coming of the Godfather’s greatest creation.

God was happy watching his creation grow and evolve. The Godfather turned to the Godmother and the Son and said, “Let us now make humans in our own image. We want them to enjoy the world we have given them and eventually be welcomed back with us into our heaven.”

It was determined that no two humans would be exactly the same, males were created in the image of the Father and females in the image of the Mother. As with the angels, all the humans were given the gift of a free will. From the very start, The Rule was made clear to human creation and eventually, when some chose to question it, God even expanded it into 10 Commandments. It was felt this made it even more obvious what behaviour was expected from God’s people towards their God and to each other.

The devil, meanwhile, was infiltrating himself in among the population. Lucifer found he could exploit human weaknesses, so that individuals might begin to question the God of their creation. He knew what it was like to gather up possessions and go in search of power and control so he used his evil knowledge to tempt those who were vulnerable.

Time passed.

Sadness crept into the Eternal House of God as it became obvious to the Blessed Trinity that many humans were not living The Rule. Some had even created their own Gods which they worshipped. Others became so entrenched in satisfying their own desires, they completely disregarded the needs of others. The gifts the Spirit of God had given humanity to build up their communities were misused by some individuals whose desire for power and riches was often at the expense of the downtrodden.

God was deeply saddened by what was happening and realised it was becoming increasingly obvious that the Son would have to be sent to Earth to redeem the world. They knew this meant certain pain, considerable suffering and even a horrible human death for the Son. They realised for the sake of the whole world, the time had arrived to enact the insurance arrangement they had put in place all those eons ago in the event of something of this magnitude ever happening.

The process had been well planned. Gabriel was sent to a good woman named Mary, chosen for her holiness. His delicate role was to ask her to consider being the earthly mother of the Messiah. Mary was at first taken aback by the very thought of her, a virgin, becoming pregnant, but her deep faith in God enabled her to respond to Gabriel “Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

And the Word was made flesh and lived among us. He was named Jesus.

As Jesus grew in age and wisdom, he experienced life as a human being. At around the age of 30 he felt it was time to go public and complete the reason for his human existence. He knew he must fulfil the Father’s request to make the world in which he lived aware of The Rule and the love their God had for all creation.

His task commenced when he chose to be baptised by his cousin John. It was on this occasion that the Father, speaking from an overhead cloud, made everyone present fully aware that this was ‘his Son with whom he was well pleased.’ The Spirit of God appeared as the softness of a dove and he recognised the presence of his God mother Spirit.

Jesus travelled the countryside attracting followers along the way. He told simple stories about what God wants of us and how to apply The Rule in our lives.  As a human he relied on God to help cure and heal people. God supported his work by providing miracles on many occasions. Jesus made many friends, but he also made enemies who were jealous of his popularity. Jesus taught his friends how to pray and told them of his spiritual Father in heaven. He constantly referred to the need to live out The Rule and often went off on his own to pray.

On one occasion the devil saw he was weak from praying and fasting and had a go at tempting him by offering him ownership of the whole world, if he would just bow down before him. Jesus vehemently told him where to go and then enjoyed the ministrations of some angels sent by his Godmother to assist him.

We are all born with the express purpose of living. Jesus was the only person born purely to die. And as the time of his death drew near, he gathered his friends around him and instituted the New Covenant in which he promised his Spirit would be with them for all time.

After asking his Father’s blessing, he shared bread and wine with them and told them to eat and drink this as his body and blood, which would be sacrificed for mankind. He told them whenever they did this, they should do it in memory of him.

That night he was betrayed by one of his own followers. When he prayed to his Father for help, this was not forthcoming. In fact, not only did he have to suffer the pain and misery that would come during the next hours, he had to take on board the pain of all the sins of mankind as well. The load was immense.

In Heaven, while this horrific scenario was playing out on earth, the Godfather was distraught. The Godmother, inconsolable. It was a situation they had hoped would never happen, but because of this event they knew humankind would forever more be reminded of the need to live out The Rule and by so doing, enjoy the wonder and joy of everlasting life.

After Jesus breathed his last breath, his Spirit left his earthly body and came back to his spiritual home where, because of his suffering and death, the gates of Heaven were flung open for all those souls awaiting this great day.

There was a tearful reuniting between the Son, his Godfather and Godmother. The Trinity was once more three spirits in one God. The Son had completed the task given him by the Father and because of the New Covenant he had made with humankind, would be available to help anyone who called on him in their efforts to live out The Rule.

The Son had one more visit to make before being ministered to by a group of doting angels organised by his Godmother. He went to the gates of Hell and left there the image of the suffering Jesus on the Cross as a constant reminder to those anguished souls within of what they had done to their God.

True to his word, Jesus rose from the tomb on Easter Sunday. While his Spirit took on the wounded body of Jesus, he made sure he was recognised. He cooked and ate breakfast with some of the apostles, joined two others on the road to Emmaus and appeared to them all while they were in a locked room.

Jesus reminded his followers of the Covenant he had made with them at the Last Supper and promised his Spirit would always be with them. Even so, they remained locked up in a room for fear that they would be caught and suffer a similar fate to Jesus.

God sent the Helper, as the Holy Spirit was called at the first Pentecost, to fire up the disciples, remove their inhibitations and get them out into the world, so we might all understand why Jesus suffered and died for us.

As Christians, we need to follow in the disciple’s footsteps. We have a responsibility to embrace The Rule ourselves, spread the Good News and look forward to eventually being one with our God in the spiritual world of Heaven.

How fortunate we are that the Spirit of the risen Jesus lives in each of our hearts today. This was his part of the New Covenant.

After everything our God has gone through for us, it is now up to us to try and live out The Rule in our daily lives.

NOTE:

In writing this story it has always been my intention that maybe one day it might be used as the basis for a stage production.

Naturally some parts are purely imaginative, but I hope readers will use these ideas to create even further possibilities in their personal understanding of the depth of our God’s love for us.

As the story progresses, it broadly follows that which is well known. However, it is my wish that it will offer a further opportunity for us to perhaps relook at our individual life’s journeys in respect of The Rule.

Peter Mack

October 2021

See also The Rule – What’s behind the story

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