Solutions: The Dilemma for the Gods by James Gerard (top 50 books to read .txt) 📕

“Now,” he shouted from deep within the deceptive fortress the Gods erected, “now it is time to reveal the truth and bring an end to the powerful influence over my God’s children.”

Terrance, in faith, decided to wait in the inner world until morning.  At that time he knew he could regain composure and reason with the children, and to confront the high priests with a collective calm provided by the Holy One he loved.

 Terrance paced back forth on the vacant street waiting for the prompt arrival of the high priest.  With proof of the great deception, he decided to confront the storekeeper with the truth.  In the darkness he held two books and a collection of papers as testimony to the lie the children had believed, and one that would lead to the truth of the good world.  Over and over a rehearsal of the desired confrontation played in the thoughts.  He grappled with which to present first: the books or the eyewitness account of the craftiness of the mighty Gods.

The desire leaned to the witnessing, a firsthand account of that which was cut off from the children, but he saw the book and notes as firsthand accounts that were in the style unfamiliar to the high priests yet undeniably accurate.  Terrance believed the two penned by the hands of the Gods would be accepted but questioned, the other by the One he trusted would offer the irrefutable truths regarding the influence of the powers that be.  His hope was the priests would be able to reconcile the two accounts of truth.

But Terrance’s passions boiled in finding a convincing motive that would steer the high priests to the grounds of the Greater Temple.  He reasoned if they would only witness the havoc created, the outright rebellious acts on the Gods’ secret pasture, the Gods would be revealed.  In hopes, the priests that were merely men, that shared the same Father would not be held accountable as the perpetrators but as the perpetrator’s unwitting accomplices.  But he figured since the high priests had a load of contempt for him as the sinner that angered the Gods, Terrance knew there would be an immediate rejection to the request for an unauthorized visit.

A soft light from the glowing horizon indicated time was near.  The pacing accelerated.  Fingers attached to a sweaty palm clutched the books tighter to prevent them from slipping away to the ground.  Doubts invaded his thoughts.  The temptation to flee screamed in his head.  Terrance’s heart accelerated and pumped the blood faster and faster.  The palm of both hands began to sweat profusely with anxiety.

He inhaled deeply at the sight of the high priest marching towards the entrance of the store.  Terrance rushed towards him but the high priest ignored the invasion and entered the store without saying a word, without even an acknowledgment of the sudden appearance and transgression of the tenets.  But just as Terrance was about to burst through the door of the store to confront him, the high priest emerged and threw a key down at Terrance’s feet.

“Prepare the Lesser Temple,” the high priest grumbled.

Terrance was silenced.  He could not find a word to utter.  He picked up the key and fought the urge for a direct confrontation and stormed off to the Lesser Temple.  As he stomped down the path just enough common sense entered his thinking to ward off the rage ravaging his mind.  The high priest, visibly unsettled by the lighting of the fifth light, may have acted as judge and executioner right there on the spot and may have been compelled to inflict the punishment with bare hands, bury the evidence of the living testimony and that of his Faith.  He sighed in relief realizing he had nearly ruined the opportunity to make known to the children the iron hand of deception they had been under.

By the time Terrance reached the outer world of the Lesser Temple the rage had given way to calm.  He stood and stared at the monstrosity that was in name only “lesser;” the name was in subservient respect to the Gods’ Greater Temple.  The Lesser Temple’s voluminous space in comparison to the small enclosed space of the Gods’ temple was an intentional design.  It had nothing to do with its importance but rather its ability to house all the children of the town en masse.

Terrance cut through the lawn now knowing the Gods’ identity.  The tenets did not describe the grounds around the temple to be of any importance, yet the high priests had deemed so.  With the high priests ignoring the tenets it seemed they meant to burden him with the task of manipulating the grounds with hand tools and push mower to finely manicure the lawn, trim the bushes, eradicate all weeds, and sweep the brick lined path leading to the doors of the temple and scrub them free of all grime.  The extra labor meant a full day of tedious and toiling work on the grounds while the inside’s cleanliness would be compromised by the rush.  Nevertheless, Terrance chose not to rebel against the high priests.  Instead, he plotted secretly in his scheme to divulge the truths in front of all, to name the enemy that had plagued all.

Yet, as Terrance discovered the previous three times in preparing the Lesser Temple, two days was not sufficient enough time to prepare the inside as prescribed by the Gods.  The Gods had granted a full three days work in the preparation, but they meant it for the inside alone.  No food or water was made available to sustain Terrance through the day’s work, but the intentional act renewed his strength, his resolve to reveal the truths.  Throughout the unusually hot spring day the sun baked him with intense beams of light.  Sweat soaked through the shoddily weaved clothing and dripped off his face as he toiled heavily.  He l raced to accomplish the task set before him.

With each passing moment details of the scheme were added, tweaked, rearranged, and reworded to emphasize the revelation he planned to confront the children with.  The anger grew anew, heightened in intensity, then steamrolled along gathering up even more fury.  But a feeling tugged at his heart.  The feeling softly spoke to temper the tone of the intended furious speech to both the children and the high priests and to allow an invitation to the truth rather than an irate command to heed to it.  The object of the fiery desire was switched to the Gods, which in themselves were switched to mere idols, which by the truth were merely mortals just like the children and the priests.  Even the rage against the powers that be was tempered as Terrance turned his attention to the Most High.

Terrance, however, was strong in his convictions and intentions.  He knew the revelation had in it the hope that all would be free from the lies perpetrated on them.  Such knowledge would be a first step in ending the deception they had been forced to believe.  After that first step, Terrance yearned for all to be lifted up from the heavy bondage of servitude and land on the freedom set forth by his Father.  And knowing his God, the promise to carry them out of blindness and into the Truth would be fulfilled, as he and his parents had long hoped for and the path of understanding made clear to his Lord God; He that had perpetually used not the Gods, but the powers that be as his footstool.

 A decision to eat and rest, to contemplate, to read the love written in flowing rivers of the living Word led Terrance to the cabin for the night.  A rapid return of the morning light, however, guided him back to the temple in a hurry. Looking around at the lopsided bushes, a weed or two visible to the naked eye, the freshly cut blades of grass littering the lawn brought a sense of satisfaction.  He realized the high priests could administer no further punishment for the imperfection since the chore was one not prescribed in the tenets; the tenets were counted as dead.   However, the preparation for the inside was prescribed in exact details, yet those details too would be disregarded as the tenets were revealed as the deceptive lies perpetrated by the powers that be; God was a protective shield that warded off any possible retribution of the evil entity.

Terrance stood outside the temple doors contemplating the required procedures.  The idea of leaving the inside as it was in its current state crossed his mind.  After all, he reasoned, the Gods were now known to him as powerless beings who were unable to instill the fear within the soul they never had control of anyway.  As far as the high priests’ reaction to what they would see, again, what could they do?  Still under the spell of an illusion, he doubted they would commit a rebellious act by refusing to enter the temple on the fourth day as prescribed by the Gods simply because it did not meet their expectations.  They would not grumble, elevate the scoffing of the law over the rebellious act, and then refuse to enter the temple to face the judgment; they dare not challenge the Gods.  Yet Terrance longed for them to understand that they too could be set free of the lies if only they knew the truth.  But he had to bide the time to find a way to play out the two remaining days.

Instantly the scheme grew by leaps and bounds.  A thought brought a smile to his face.  Inspiration, by the means of smoke and mirrors of his device led him racing to the shed housing all the cleaning supplies, handtools, ladders, and the assortment of spare electrical and lighting parts and instruments needed to maintain the inside of the temple.

Terrance pulled out the plans for the inner world of the temple, dusted off the step by step prints which contained the construction guide for its erection.  Within the pages were the schematics that dealt with the placing, wiring, and wattage of the lights illuminating the various sections of the cavernous space.  The altar was high