“And all along, the drama unfolding in the spirit world is hardly noticed but no less real. In fact, it is the real story. We just tend to forget that because we cannot see it.”
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anthony_van_Dyck_-_Mocking_of_Christ.jpg |
She looked at her mother again. Helen had clenched shut her eyes and lifted her chin so that the skin on her neck stretched taut. Her face rose ashen to the ceiling and Gloria saw then that her mother was crying. Not crying and smiling like Spencer. But crying with a face painted in horror. “Mom?” she asked, suddenly worried. “Oh, God! Oh, God, please. Please, no!” Helen’s fingers dug deep into the chair arms. Her face grimaced as though she were enduring the extracting of a bullet without an anesthetic. “Mother! What’s wrong?” Gloria sat straight, memories of the incredible laughter dimmed by this sight before her. “Stop it, Mother!” Helen’s muscles seemed to tense at the command. She did not stop it. “Oh, please God, no! Not now. Please, please, please . . .” From her vantage, Gloria could see the roof of her mother’s mouth, surrounded by white dentures, like a pink canyon bordered by towering pearl cliffs. A groan broke from Helen’s throat like moaning wind from a deep, black cavern. A chill descended Gloria’s neck. She could not mistake the expression worn by Helen now—it was the face of agony. “Nooooo!” The sound reminded Gloria of a woman in childbirth. “Noooo . . .” “Mother! Stop it right now! You’re frightening me!” She jumped up from the chair and rushed over to Helen. Up close she saw that her mother’s whole face held a slight tremor. She dropped to her knee and grabbed her mother’s arm. “Mother!” Helen’s eyes snapped open, staring at the ceiling. The moan ran out of air. Her eyes skipped over the white plaster above. She mumbled softly. “What have you shown me? What have you shown me?” She must have found herself then, because she suddenly clamped her mouth shut and dropped her head. For a moment they stared at each other with wide eyes.
I stopped reading this book at about 60% last night... I just couldn't take any more of this writer's "Wager."
Over 20 years ago, I'd learned of this author--about his books which covered the supernatural aspect of God. I don't remember whether I read at least one to see what it was all about. If I don't remember, that probably means that I wasn't impressed... I do know that I've not read any of his books since that time. However, as you know, I'm a member of BookBub and this book was offered to me based upon my expression of interest in Christian books. So I decided to give the book a try. Not really considering the exact name of the book until I mentioned it Tuesday here on my blog.
You see, right from the very beginning I was having problems with the author's...writing... Quite a surprise given his number of books... This book, though, appears to be an attempt to write a contemporary story, which I found more like horror rather than Christian... In any event, I had the weirdest dream just before I woke up this morning.
A meal with ham had been served and I was apparently cleaning up afterward. Somebody had gotten to the remaining ham first and hacked it badly... There were chunks which included internal fat lines for one. It obviously had not been prepared for future use... As I was in the midst of picking it up with my hands, trying to figure out what to do with it--and eating a few bits as we all do--I began to notice that something was "attacking" me. I realized that something within the ham was doing it. Should I throw out all that was left? I didn't know how the preparer of that ham would feel so I kept on getting "bitten" by something... Until I woke up...
This is the word that came to my mind upon waking:
Mockery...
I knew immediately that referred to this book
And that I should write about it after all...
When this happens, I don't just start writing. First I checked when this book was copyrighted (2000) but this book I'd been reading was published as a "debut" in 2010. I then went to Amazon and read a couple of the low ranking reviews. They also questioned the concept for various reasons. Then, for some reason, I remembered the Biblical reference of demons being moved into swines (pig - ham dream) and they running off a cliff... Now I know there are probably connections to all that I had not worked out. So this discussion relates just to the book itself, if I may...
Dekker begins the book without any leadin; that is, the setting, the background or the characters. Lots of authors do this, but as I moved on, I realized two points:
The main "villain" had been working much overtime to create a banking program that could be used across the whole banking area. He had succeeded and rushed home to tell his wife and child that they were going to be able to enjoy life more, starting with a trip to celebrate. I recall that I was happy for him/them...
Then the next major thing that struck me was that his wife, his son, and his wife's mother routinely met for prayer. They had been praying for the "villain" for 5 years... There was no explanation for this supposed need for prayer for that many years, other than that he worked too hard and didn't participate in their religious lives, even though he at one point told his son he believed in God...
Now this prayer activity got into supernatural interaction with God... And the book points out that those in Heaven didn't know what to do about all these prayers... ??? that had been coming for years.
In the meantime, the programmer had completed his system development and it had been submitted for recognition at a large event...
The subtitle of this series is Martyr Song 1 - But, from my understanding of the term Martyr, I really wasn't sure who the martyr was... But, death does strike for two (at the point where I stopped)
Because the assumed "martyr" of the book was called back home. He was to be the main speaker, but it had now been done by his boss who had contributed very little to the project. His wife had died by the time he got there...
Within weeks, his son had been killed in an accident... Somewhere along the lines, Job was thrown in as a possible tie in...I didn't think it was relevant given the book's content...
So let's stop and take a look at the title: Heaven's Wager... You will see that I pulled in a hit song from years ago about the Devil going down to Georgia. In fact, there have been literally hundreds if not millions of books that revolve about Christianity and the relation to demons, the devil and violence from other humans! I can immediately think of some that I've reviewed here... Declan Finn, in my opinion, has done the best writing on this topic...
I've probably said this before but I picked out a video that speaks to what I'm trying to say:
When I was a child, I learned the song above, as a children's choir song... As a literal reader, I learned that I was to hate the devil... In fact, I believed this so much that I would not even allow myself to say that name... or sing it in the song. Years later, I went to see a movie with a friend when it first came out: The Exorcist scared me so much that I almost fell and would have as I was leaving if my friend had not helped me by grabbing my arm... I believed that demons did exist...
Took a lunch break! OMG! What happened to "Do No Harm?"? Is there anything that can be done by this administration, without an automatic awareness that MONEY IS IN THE DECISION-MAKING...
As opposed to Promised Affordability for all citizens...
Gabby
