Chapter 23: Restoration

It was not long before a small convoy of vehicles was heading toward Cosmos. The sun was yet high in the cloudless sky. As I pondered various scenarios about what we might discover in Cosmos, my wife dozed beside me, still holding the Jubilee staff.

After a few minutes of silence, she awoke with a start. “What is it?” I asked.

“I saw the Town Square in Cosmos through the eyes of Sippore,” she said. ²³⁶ “I saw a crowd of people, and it was like they were holding a festival of some kind, centered around Marah Fountain. Sick people were being healed, mentally and physically, as they drank living water from the Fountain. Everyone in the Moon Plaza seemed very happy, as if a great spiritual burden has been lifted from the town.”

“Then I seemed to fly over the temple behind the Town Hall. I saw men carrying things out of the building and putting them in a moving van. It appears that the Rhodomon Society is leaving Cosmos.” We looked at each other, knowing that we needed to do something about this.

We soon arrived in Cosmos and the convoy made its way to the Town Square. Getting out of our vehicles, I took my staff and walked toward the happy tumult. We found much of the town packed into the Plaza, excited to see so many people healed and rejoicing with praise to the Creator for His great gift of life. When Joseph appeared, the crowd recognized him and began to chant loudly: “Joseph! Joseph! Joseph!”

He walked into the crowd and joined in their festivities. But Sipporah and I found Paul, who had wandered into the crowd, and said to him, “We believe that something is happening at the temple, and we need to investigate. Since you know those people, it would be a good thing if you came with us.”

“I would be happy to accompany you,” he said, and we walked quickly around the crowd and past the Town Hall. There we saw the moving van and men loading it with furniture, altars, pictures, books, and other things sacred to the Rhodomons.

“What are you doing?” Paul asked one of the workers. “Where are you going with this?”

“That is none of your business,” came the reply. “We are just following instructions.”

“Well, I believe it is our business to know,” Paul responded, “because you are removing evidence of possible criminal behavior and evidence of corruption done by the former Town Council members.”

“We know nothing of that. We are just doing our job,” the workman insisted.

I turned to Paul, whispering, “Let my wife and I watch them, while you go to the Plaza and tell the people what is going on. Bring them here. They need to see this.”

Paul turned and walked quickly back to the Plaza. A few minutes later, a large crowd of townspeople, led by Joseph himself, came around the Town Hall and surrounded the moving van. “Where are you going with this?” Joseph asked.

“That is our business alone,” came the reply.

“It is now the Town’s business,” Joseph retorted. “They deserve to know what sort of secret government has been ruling them for so long. This is also evidence in a murder investigation.”

The workman protested, “You have no legal authority to give me orders! Get out of my way!”

Paul now stepped to his side and asked the crowd, “Did you hear that? Technically, he is right. Since the mayor has left town, and most of the Council members have disappeared, Cosmos has no legitimate government to decide what to do in this case. We need a new government.”

“I nominate Joseph to be our mayor!” someone shouted from the back of the crowd.

The crowd shouted its approval. Paul then shouted, “Joseph has been nominated as mayor of Cosmos. All in favor say aye!”

“Aye,” roared the crowd.

“Is anyone opposed?” Paul asked.

There was a moment of silence, followed by laughter. So Joseph was elected by unanimous voice vote as the mayor of Cosmos. Having seen or heard about the previous day’s spectacle of Joseph’s beating, and how he had manifested the inner light that abode in him, everyone had confidence that he was indeed a man of integrity that had a direct relationship with the Creator.

Joseph then nominated to the City Council the other disciples in our fellowship: Toivo and his wife, Chen, Raj, Olabisi, Naoki, Abdul, Kika, Sven, Zoe, and Ruth. Together with Joseph, there were 12 members of the Council, which the people ratified by unanimous consent. Finally, Joseph nominated Paul to be the new judge of Cosmos, and again the people clapped their hands in approval.

The workmen were forced to alter their plan. They now helped move things out of the temple and into the street, where all things could be examined publicly. Thus, it was revealed to all of the people what had been the secret philosophy, rituals, signals, and religious practices of the government officials until now. Records were found of many secret trials and executions of those who had threatened to expose their corruption and their devious ways of maintaining power and influence.

They learned the history of the Rhodomon Society, its alliance with the Town Council of Newkirk, and, most importantly, how it had gradually usurped that which belonged to the Creator. Their philosophy had been to corrupt the minds of the people and to allow all sorts of immorality, so that the people would be bound by their own base nature, while being given an illusion of freedom.

They had used the idea of freedom and human rights to violate the rights of the Creator. One of the Town Council’s crowning achievements was to give women the right to murder their own unborn children, as if they owned their children. Because the people had forgotten that they were only stewards of the land, and that all men, women, and children were made of the dust of the ground that God had created, they did not know that rights come only from the Creator Himself. It is written that governments do not have power to grant rights, but they are charged with the responsibility to uphold and protect the rights granted by the Creator.

It is self-evident that governments can grant only privileges, but when they disavowed the Creator, they usurped the authority to grant rights.

The Rhodomons had sought power through secret knowledge and lost technology from the ancient past. Such knowledge was not evil in itself, but when used to maintain power and to enslave people by secrecy and deception, they violated the laws of the Creator.

Documents revealed that their underlying purpose in searching for ancient knowledge was to learn the secret of immortality apart from the Creator’s plan. They believed that the Creator had done wrong in denying them such knowledge, and so they sought immortality apart from Him. In following this path, they found themselves in opposition to the Creator, and they came to believe that the Creator was evil. This caused them to join the great rebellion led by Baphomet.

When these things were discovered in the documents and books, Paul turned to me and said, “As an avid member of the Rhodomon Society, I was influenced by these things as well. The Society promised that if I were to study and rise in rank, eventually I would be told the so-called final secret which would give me immortality. I was led to believe that I would possess an inner light that would transcend my physical body, making me an ascended master. So when I saw that inner light in Joseph as I was beating him, I realized that he had already attained what I had desired for a long time. That is what enlightened my eyes and made me realize that the Rhodomon Society was on the wrong side of truth.”

“That is very interesting,” I replied. “Your moment of truth was when you saw that the final secret lay not in the Rhodomon Society, but in those that it was persecuting.”

“Yes,” he said, “I was completely unhinged when I realized this. Joseph had obtained what I had truly desired for a long time. I have paid the Society enormous amounts of money, even compromising my moral principles and violating my own conscience with the hope of achieving what Joseph and others had been given freely.”

“When I first saw the tree of life,” I told him, “I spoke with the guardian of the tree. He had a large, flaming sword, giving the appearance that the Creator does not want men to receive immortality. But men misunderstand the Creator. It is not that He wants to withhold immortality from us, but rather that the sin of Earthyman at the beginning of history must be dealt with first. The curse of the law must first be reversed. Otherwise, we might achieve immortality while we are yet sinners. In His wisdom, He has not allowed us to become immortal sinners, for then we would be gods in ourselves, forever fighting the Creator.”

“That would not be a good situation,” Paul agreed.

“No, it would not,” I replied. “The divine plan is to bring us all into harmony with His will, mind, and purpose, so that immortality will not be the cause of eternal warfare in the universe. The Rhodomon philosophy is dualistic. They believe that light and darkness must co-exist forever, along with good and evil. If the Rhodomons or others were able to achieve immortality while remaining in opposition to the Creator, the result would be eternal dualism, a separation between children of light and children of darkness. The Creator’s universe would be divided, and His lawful right to rule all that He has created would be thwarted forever.”

“But we have learned,” I continued, “that His plan is to restore all things to Himself. All justice in this world begins with giving justice to the Creator Himself. If He should suffer eternal loss of anything that He owns, then injustice would be forever ingrained into the very fabric of the universe. Fortunately, however, the Creator had the wisdom to devise a better plan, the power to accomplish it, and the love for all of mankind to motivate Him to persist until all has been reconciled.”

I paused to allow this weighty truth to sink into the depths of Paul’s heart. At last, he said thoughtfully, “This is the final secret that I sought for many years, the mystery that secret societies have claimed to have—but, in fact, they long ago rejected. They had no confidence in the Creator’s wise plan, so they formulated their own plan, thinking that the wisdom of men was greater. But they only deified foolishness and tricked men into joining the Great Rebellion. I am so glad to hear that the Creator has vowed to succeed in making all of us His people and to be our God. Even those who are most blinded today by hatred will be overcome, ultimately, by His love.”

“Yes,” I replied. “When men find it necessary to murder people in order to retain their secrets, as Morgan was murdered, it is clear that they are motivated by fear and hatred, rather than by faith and love. By their fruit you will know them.” ²³⁷

Our discussion was interrupted as Joseph shouted to the people, “It is getting late. Gather up all of this evidence. We will put it all into the archive, so that all may remember the ways of men who are in rebellion against the Creator. It is important for future generations to know the contrast between the deceitful wisdom of men and the true goodness and wisdom of the Creator.”

With so many townspeople helping, everything was brought quickly to the official archives building located not far down the street. Meanwhile, as Paul, Sipporah, and I began to walk back toward Moon Plaza, I turned to Paul and said, “There is just one more thing that we must do.”

“What is that?” Paul asked inquisitively. “Come and see,” I said.

As I led the way to Marah Fountain, Sipporah observed, “This fountain is no longer bitter, so it needs a new name. Let us call it Sweetwater. ²³⁸ The paved path leading to this fountain is also misnamed, for it is no longer the Trail of Tears. Let us rename it the Trail of Joyful Tears.” Paul agreed.

“Yes, that is perfect.” I then planted the Jubilee staff into the ground next to Sweetwater Fountain. It immediately began to sprout healing leaves, and within a few minutes it had grown once again into a beautiful tree, full of life and vigor, ready to bear fruit as needed. Walking around to the other side of the Fountain, I took out my pouch of seeds, planting one near the ancient prophecy, for whose fulfillment the blind man had awaited so many years. Immediately, it germinated and grew quickly before our eyes until it equaled the height of the Jubilee tree.

“Let all who are thirsty come and take of the water of life freely,” I declared. “Let all who are in need of healing take the leaves of this tree and eat of its fruit. Let it be known to all mankind that the Jubilee is the final secret of the ages, the end of the Creator’s plan for the universe, the restoration of all things.”

Turning around, I looked at my wife and said, “I believe our work here is finished. It is time for us to return home.” Turning toward Paul, I said, “My friend, we leave this place in a better condition than we found it. Judge the people in righteousness, and make Cosmos a place where the Creator may walk among the people once again.”

“I will do that,” Paul replied. “May you be blessed in all things, and I do hope that we will see you again.”

“Yes, you will.”

Footnotes

236. Note the progression. She first had to receive messages from Sippore, but when her eyes were healed, she could see through Sippore’s eyes.
237. Matthew 7:20
238. The original headquarters from which the Indian Removal Act was enforced was located at Sweetwater, Tennessee. It was an irony of history that the Trail of Tears began at Sweetwater.