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Chapter 4

DISCOVERING KNOWLEDGE

Where is knowledge to be found ? asked the Little A of himself. It is all a matter of perspective, for people can invent things and put facts into them, as into cardboard cases, which bulge and break,  and cannot really contain them aptly,  comfortably or well,  and in the  end  spill everything out.

As he mused, a most grisly fiend arrived before him, and with lowering look and dismal countenance began to present to him his wish. Knowledge, proclaimed the spiritual lout, for that is what he was, is just a matter of how you see things, and making the things you want happen.

Ah! returned the Little A, then if I hate and see how to murder, this is knowledge. It is of course, of a type, but it does not answer the uttermost questions of whether you hate, whom you hate or the nature of hate and how well it relates to love, and why it should be chosen, on what basis or regimen of thought.

You speak as a waffle in a cloud, the fiend retorted.

It would  actually be very pleasant, smiled the Little A, for he knew enough already to see that loud-mouthed and gratuitous abuse is a substitute for thought, and he was interested in thinking in order to obtain knowledge.

You are a simple-minded twit! the fiend continued.

Thank you for sharing your most intimate mind with me, exposing your subjectivity to open scrutiny in this way, countered the Little A; but in all honesty, we merely waste our time in such slings and arrows of outrageous mouthings. At that, he left abruptly, as a sign of distaste.

As he went, he considered this: it is clear that there is something spiritually loathsome to such as that grisly ogre of spirit who spewed himself into the atmosphere, when it comes to be a matter of  seeking knowledge. He seeks to divert people from it. Why ?

It then came to him that since knowledge has to have a basis, an experient, a knower and the thing to be known, and it must be known as it is and not in some imaginary perspective such as hate equals good, or power equals knowledge, or knowledge equals power, but where every aspect is covered and the meaning and principal of it is not shaded, but exposed in clarity, the only ultimate referent is God. But if you do not know God, then you do not have knowledge, but only a combination of the pragmatic or the ecstatic and the desire.

If he would find knowledge, therefore, he must find God; but as yet he had not even sought an appointment; and for that matter, he was not entirely sure, coming to the point at issue, how one would do it. If only he had asked Vesa, but yet, there seemed to be something so exceedingly private about knowing God, that he was not sure that even now he would ask, so he asked himself instead. How WOULD one seek an appointment ?

He decided on sending a message on the spiritual ether, projecting a proposal into the orderly arrangements of the celestial environment (it was not of course heaven where all sorrow is over, but just what it is called, a place where angels can develop, since they can develop, for fallen angels have to be able to fall and to be when fallen). However the more he projected either vocally or in thought, the more the emptiness resounded, as if smiling at his folly. He decided that if he truly sought more thoroughly for knowledge, the things would happen of themselves, since the Creator knows what He is doing. Hence he pondered further, or rather began to do so when there appeared a truly angelic looking being, yet one filled with a sort of oiliness of texture which glistened in the light - rather like a fish in strong light, he thought disparaging, for the ogre had made him sensitive to imposition and disposition in things.

Hi! he said cheerfully, seeking to avoid any odd sort of confrontation. Greetings,   Your Littleness, smirked the piscine angel. I gather you are seeking to project a desire to find the divine being, and have made quite a noise about it. Let me advise you.

Now the Little A decided this time, not to assume knowledge on the part of so fishy a fellow, however angelic he might contrive to appear, and said, No thank you!

At this the fishy being began a long spiel about his credentials. I have, he said, twice been awarded the fine fishy fellow prize for speech endurance, three times won the contest for the best appearing angel and have competed with devils for the prize of polished presentation.

It has been most interesting to meet you! exclaimed the Little A, but your idea of fellowship is not mine, so I shall with goodwill leave you at this point. Ephesians 4-5 with II Timothy 3 boomed in his heart.

The Little A had been practising in his mind, during this conversation, the most apt manner of departing so suddenly that chasing would be out of the question, but stumbled as he went, so giving the officious fishy angel more opportunity to exhibit his facility of speech and reach.

Oh what a pity! he declared, to see you so inept, as well as small. Surely you need coaching, for did I not win the prize for the most athletic mover in all contest, only yesterday.

In fact, this was untrue, but the fishy fellow wanted to make the Little A despair of escape from his oppressive presence, and so lied with that ease which fishy ones seem to find quite natural. After all, he was not born so fishy, so he must have been fishing for such an exterior, or at least deserved it. At this, the Little A experienced an intense loathing for the fellow and before performing more expertly this time, his act of departure, which really was quite athletic considering his size, he said, "Speed is not the point: it is where you are going with it!" and leaped into the void.

At least, since there is no void in the celestial sphere, he leapt so fast that it seemed like a void, since he was not able to perceive with speed enough to see where he was going. It was therefore delicious to avoid the fishy atmosphere, but perilous since he could not know what would happen. In fact, he had leapt over a spiritual precipice which left him at the bottom of an abyss, but in a signal, last act of desperation he fluttered to a slight bump,  and  was about to congratulate himself when who should appear but Vesa.

You should, you know, said that Angel, have called on the name of the Lord when you first saw the need of His ultimate basis and truth, His knowledge and perspective, so you see, your failure to do so has left you vulnerable to imposition and fraud.

But when I called, there was no answer, said the Little A.

You did not call on the name of the Lord, but merely uttered a vocable, God. The Lord is the name by which He is to be known for seekers.

Why ? if I am not too forward, responded the Little A, is this so. Does it matter ? Is He not God!

Does it matter whether I call you young fry, or Little A, said Vesa ?

Of course, but there is nothing wrong with the word God, is there ? he questioned.

Nothing, except that it is not the visiting name. You know how when you are looking for a spiritual house, you need the address ? Well when you are looking for God it is well to know how to get here, is it not ? His name is a key. What that name SHOWS you is another.

What does the name, the Lord, show YOU, then ? asked Little A.

It shows that the One who created all things is personal, is powerful, has the place of being my proper master,  and that I acknowledge these things.

That is obvious, said the Little A, for how could the Creator be anything less, since a word, or lack of it, from Him at any time could spell the termination of my very existence, the loss of my functionality or some distemper to make me worse than useless.

Good! said Vesa, but there is more to it than that. You need to consider why He should listen.

It would be because He loved, said the Little A, what He had created.

What if the creature sinned against Him, by not even having sought Him out before, and by simply using equipment without rule or reason, as if he were autonomous ? asked Vesa.

Then you would have to say, I am sorry for postponing my request to know You, and say, Lord would you please listen ?

That would help. But then, at  Nursery School, you received a good deal of biblical information, and surely you realised that the way is very clear and simple.

Oh that! said the Little A frankly, I never really thought of that practically, because it was just knowledge.

Did you never read of Pentecost and the advice of Peter, to repent and call on the name of the Lord, and that this involved remission of sins, in view of the death to which Jesus Christ had submitted in order to be a sacrifice to cover the cost of sin and satisfy justice when mercy appeared, and goodness wished to displace it ?

Yes, the little one replied, but that is theology. Do you have to do something as well ?

Theology is simply the truth about God presented with due regard to all that He has said, and the need to follow it in outline and system, in purpose and thrust, in wisdom and with light, so that one misses nothing and sees it all together harmoniously.

Yes, but you do not have to DO anything personally, do you ? Is it not enough to know it ? After all, God is very wonderful, and learning all about Him from His words is a great thing.

It is indeed, responded Vesa. Yet why should they have to act then, as they did,
and calling on the name of Jesus the Christ, and repenting of their sins, then be baptised,
since in their case, they were unbaptised at birth with the baptism of Christ as in Colossians 2:11-12,  this baptism having just begun.

In a word,  why did they repent and believe and receive, if you do not have to!

Oh! if you will pardon my forwardness, smiled the Little A, for he really loved Vesa and now was not at all afraid of him, it is because I am an angel.

So many on earth seem  to think the same! smiled Vesa, and never repent because they are far too good to need to do things like that, when all the time, the very fact that they do not even know God becomes a sort of spiritual noose around their necks, and they go all over the place as those who are wilfully blind, without any personal knowledge of the very God who made them.

Oh! said Little A, who felt as if he were being fried, but did not mind, since the word 'knowledge' was the one he was pursuing as to its depth and reality.

How do you get this personal knowledge, then, he advanced, for he was really a reasonable sort of being, since sin is such an affliction, and ignorance is so hard to act on wisely ?

You have to use faith, and act on it, and call on that name, repenting and believing in this sacrificial One, who when you believe, becomes your substitute, just as He was offered as this beforehand. When you rise, you rise, when you fall, you fall, and it is always to somewhere, Vesa continued. If I left you to ponder before, it was because you were not ready; but now you are, and you must try to consider the case you are in.

How can I believe what I do not know ? asked Little A.

My dear Little A, Vesa replied, you DO know what is written, you SHOULD know whether you believe it or not, and if you do, as you seem continually to be assuming, then you simply act on it as it tells you.

Ah! said Little A, I repent of not knowing God sooner. Yes, I do that, for I have been finding in my mind, in my social relationships and in my perils that not knowing God is about as stupid a spiritual thing to do as is possible, unless some kind of final rebelliousness when you begin to know Him is worse, as in Hebrews 10.

You know, mused Vesa, you really do amaze me, but you are not the first. It is just one of those situations where one never can quite see how opaque a being can be; but that, you see, it is the very nature of sin that it does not see. Light is foreign to it, and speaks another language.

See what ? may I ask, Vesa.

Why, how it could be that seeing these things, you did not act sooner, and instead of hollering in the spiritual atmosphere, did not simply repent, as in Luke 13, which makes it most clear that it is to be done, or all is lost; and then believing, call on the name of the Lord.

I wanted to be more ready, said Little A.

You could have died in the interim, responded Vesa.

Well, now is a good time, so here goes, said Little A.

That is not the sound of repentance, if I may say so, said Vesa, but of a playful mind frolicking.

How then DO you repent with a solemn mind thoughtfully ? asked Angie.

You see the spiritual stupidity of your ways, the ignorant rankness of your assumptions that it was not crucial to know God, the lax allowance of total obfuscation of your spirit by failing to admit the light of the Lord, and the amazing fact that knowing as you did, you did not apply this and find God where he clearly states as in Isaiah 53-55, where He IS to be found. You then mourn what was in effect your intolerance of truth, and your omission of what is both vital and the source of sustainable vitality and seek the pardon it does not deserve, this life of yours.

The spiritual face of Little A grew grave. Yes, he said, this may be the very first time that I have been grave about my own ways, except when in immediate danger. I have thought, but acted as if I were some kind of eternal being for whom all eternity tamely sat ready, and did not examine my own conscience and case and seek with all my heart to find God where I really knew He could be found. The horrible thing about it, however, is this, that in so doing I was not aware of anything more than postponing things, and even felt I was being very mature in doing that.

Well, I will leave you now, said Vesa, and hope that in the mercies of God which are profound, you will be moved to act. The way for it is clear since you now know the way, and I shall pray for you that it be soon, now that you have seen that it is both urgent and practical, simple and clear, and that it involves repentance to life, and the acceptance of life for the penitent, from the Prince of Peace. His price for it was His own death, and His power is such that He even rose from the dead and is THEREFORE available to you when you call. I am quite sure that we shall meet again, in a very different context.

He smiled affably at the Little A, and raising his eyes heavenwards, where his true home lay, this present location being a site for help, he disappeared leaving Little A in a combination of ecstasy, dither, wonderment and wisdom all mixed up.

What a privilege to know someone like that! he cried to the spiritual air about him; but it did not seem to be listening. Then he suddenly realised why this was so; and blushed a spiritual cherry colour, being confused at his imperception.

Oh God, he cried, forgive me for being so preoccupied with many things, but thank you for letting me see it for myself, for now I know that you are living and available, and good and true, and ready to forgive, and to pardon me my vapidities and that you have been seeking me and have found me. I thank you for your tolerance of my shortcomings, and for your intolerance of what is neither true nor adequate, godly nor good, and in You I now find the goodness I have sought, the criterion of truth and the basis of knowledge. And now,  in finding it, I find myself unworthy of Your divine notice; but by faith I receive your sacrificial atonement, the peace that passes all understanding, and await your own confirmation in my spirit.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Little A however merely smiled; for he knew in whom he had put his trust, and wondered why really he had not done so far sooner; and trusting in God, he relaxed, and as he relaxed, his spirit heard the most marvellous words he had ever heard, but they were not for public exhibition, any more than were the words which Christ FIRST spoke to Peter, when they met as in Luke 24:34, before the fishing episode in John 21; but the words of Paul in II Corinthians 12:4ff.  suggest what they might have been.

Then he rested, and as he rested he put on spiritual weight; but because he had been so very small at the first, he could still be known as the Little Angel, partly for this reason, and partly because celestial sympathies for him had begun to grow, and many were they who now loved him. Vesa seemed suddenly to appear, saying of him, An angel in whom is no guile!

Ah yes! thought  the Little A, no guile, but not much wit either!

And with that he was sealed with that glorious seal by which the inward power of the Holy Spirit comes to the people of God, and it is the guarantee of the eternity to come, as in Ephesians 1:13-14.