“Listen! Can you hear them, Tim? And do you see each face?

Do you know what’s on the minds of people in that place?

The bobbles occupy them, but do not satisfy

Their questions and their worries. Tim, do you know why?”

Tim couldn’t see the Son’s face, but he could hear Him speak:

“It’s because down deep inside they know that they are weak.

They want to be in control of their own destiny,

And think that is the way to have real security.”

After a long break from blogging, we pick back up in the 17^th chapter of The Bridge from OneDayBow, and what a place to jump back in! After journeying through OneDayBow, and preparing to take the Truth to the people in HereAndNow, Tim is given a startling glimpse into reality. The people in HereAndNow have been duped (tricked or deceived) into believing what isn’t true, even worse than he previously thought. By who? The tempters? Definitely. But there is also an element of self-deception.  More on that later.

Tim is receiving vital information from the Son – Savior – which will go a long way in helping Tim convey the Truth. Accumulating bobbles may be the way it’s always been done in HereAndNow, at least by many, but it’s a deception from the pit of you know where.

“There’s no real security in any worldly thing.

Lasting hope can only come from trusting in the King.”

Trusting in the King.  Hmm… Hold that thought.

On page 72 of The Bridge from OneDayBow, Tim is being shown another view of HereAndNow, one that looks very different from his new vantage point. This is how Tim describes it:

“I thought it was much bigger. And I thought we were free  

To come and go as we liked. But now I clearly see

The boundaries firmly set to keep us in our space –

In permanent dependence on bobbles in that place!”

And that isn’t even the worst part of what Tim sees! Read on…

Tim spied a sole entrance at a one-way-only gate.

He then observed the town’s end, at distance not too great.

A thick and solid barrier encompassed HereAndNow,

With just one real escape route: The Bridge from OneDayBow!

The only other exit was at the city’s end:

A broad gate stood before it where shrewd tempters pretend

That passing through that portal might provide a good chance

Of winning some great future, or just some peace, perchance.

But waiting their arrival was not as they had thought:

What they were receiving there was not what they had sought.

(One step past that exit it is clear there is no prize.

The good desired and hoped for is evil in disguise.)

Behind that gate, Tim saw it – though through smoke, dense and gray:

Their tower up to heaven went down the other way;

Where all those costly bobbles they worked for as their due,

Were dumped into a heap and recycled to make new.

Reading that makes “duped” seem like an insufficient word. What they were told was of great value has turned out to the stuff that junkyards are made of. By their own efforts they’ve stockpiled bobbles in hopes of achieving eternal security and renown, but Tim now sees firsthand the bobbles are worth less than… actually, they are plain worthless. And that’s only the beginning of the bad news.

But before you jump to conclusions about the fairness of people being able to be duped, we need to be reminded of a couple of things. There was a real escape route: the Bridge from OneDayBow. Tim is only one of many who chose the cross road to the Bridge, and they’ve lived to tell about it! It remains open 24/7 to any who would care to check it out. Some could argue that would require making a choice without knowing the outcome for sure. Correct. But wasn’t the broad gate a choice as well? Nobody wants to be duped, but everyone must decide what they’ll chose to believe. And that’s not just the rule for HereAndNow, it is a fact in our world here and now.

To the not-yet-a-believer, please think seriously about your eternal future and the implications of the things you are willing to believe. Check out the Bible, examine its credibility, get to know the Author of it: God, Himself. Read the origin of sin in the book of Genesis. Read of the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin by Jesus Christ in the Gospels. And keep going all the way to Revelation to understand that God is deadly serious about the wages of repeated sin.

To the born-again believer in Jesus, please don’t ever think that it is a loving thing to ignore the reality of Hell in sharing the good news of Jesus. The good news of Jesus is that in Him the bad news of judgment has been satisfied by His sinless sacrifice. Salvation, accomplished in Jesus, does not mean that there is no Hell. But all who will trust Him with their eternal life, by faith, will be spared that judgment and instead by grace receive an undeserved (but promised) future in Heaven.

But don’t just take my word for it, check it out in God’s Word. He doesn’t want you duped!