Chapter 40 - Sink or Swim

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Man, that creature came out of nowhere. I can still taste their hair on my teeth. Their blood is still trickling down the back of my neck."

"Woo!! TMI sister. TMI!!"

"Sixth, I have a question. I know you want to move on from this but can your Spirit also give out physical abilities and characteristics. I'm talking about abilities like healing skin, glow in the dark eyes, laser eyes, or the ability to breath fire. Can He give those?"

"I can't tell you for certain what He can and cannot do but what I will say is that the greater the faith; the greater the power you have. We may not be able to breathe fire but we do have a gift called Tongues of Fire."

""Oooo! Oooo! Oooo!! So can you shoot fire from your tongue then or does it just mean that you guys are immune to spicy things?" If that is the case then we all know that all muscles of the body are connected as one so what affects one area affects all the rest. So with that being said then your immunity to fire could possibly spread to the rest of your body causing you to be immune to anything. That is why Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego didn't burn up!!"

"Uhhh, that doesn't even make sense but the answer to your question is neither. When you're blessed with tongues of fire that just means your words are that much more powerful when piercing others hearts."

"What good is being able to speak in tongues when your Spirit doesn't even let you interpet or understand what you're saying?"

"Well Abby, the thing is God designed the church so that it has to work together as one. Everybody in the church has a role to play and if one member decides that their specific role is not as good as another causing them to not want to use their gift in any light; then the body as a whole will not succeed."

"LAME!!!!"

"What did you just say?"

"I said all your powers are lame. What good is having a special gift when the only way it shines is with other Christians around. Can none of you stand on your own? That's like the most powerful superhero only being able to use his powers on Sunday but the rest of the days he's just as weak as everyone else.

Answer me this. If the Holy Spirit is the one who gives and God is the one who made the Holy Spirit then who made God?"

"Sixth, she asked you a question. She said who made...shhh!!"

"Ooh!! So you're just not going to answer me and be like every other Christian when a question comes up that they can't answer. They just immediately change the subject in hopes that the other person won't remember what was talked about. Sister, that's not going to work on me."

"What? No!! I wasn't ignoring you. I was just...nevermind. Do you all feel that between your toes? What is it?"

"See! You're changing the subject even now. This isn't over."

"Girls, I'm serious. Abby, shine your light down on our feet."

"If you think that I'm going to stoop down to your level just so that you can pounce on me then you might as well just forget it."

"Abby, that's not what I meant. Can you please shine your light down here?"

"Well when you use the magic word then I guess I could."

"Thank you."

"I'm just forewarning you that there is nothing...down there!! What is that?"

"It looks like….water!! Genie, how did you say the people down here died?"

"Sixth, I didn't say they died. All I said was that they never returned."

"Who cares about the people. I want to know how there is water down here. Didn't you say that there was nothing down here?"

"I don't know. I'm starting to rethink if anything I said was true."

"Hey girls, shine your light over here. There's something floating in the water."

"If it's a body then you are the one who has to pick it up."

"No! This object is a lot smaller than a body. It's a…...Awwww!!! It's a little toy boat floating in the water. I'm just going to pick it up real fastlike."

"Nooooooo!!! Leave it in the water."

"Woo, chill out Sixth. It's just a paper boat. It's not like somethings going to happen once I remove this peaceful boat from calm waters. Just put your sword away and stop pacing the darkness. Nothing is out there. Look, I'm not even going to pick up the boat, see. I'm just going to let it be."

"SOFIA!!!"

"Where'd that voice come from?You all heard that too didn't you? Someones out there. Girls, wolf formation around me now. Sofia, you did it this time."

"W...w...what did I do? Who's out there?"

"Sofia!! If you pick it up then you'll float too!!

"Stay alert girls."

"You'll Float too!! You'll float too!! You'll float too!! YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!! I'm the Devil!!"

"No one leaves this circle. Is that clear?"

"I said pick it up!! Don't you want to float with me? I promise that if you pick it up then you'll float too!! You'll float too!! You'll float too!! You'll float too!! You'll FLOAT TOO!!"

"Attack!!"

"Star, it's just a Mist. But where did that voice come from?"

"Why do you ask yourself who made God? The better question to ask is who made the Holy Spirit? In the beginning there was nothing but darkness. The earth was formless and void as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters."

"You got our attention. What is it that you want?"

"The Bible says that God created light and dark. He created men and women. He created the firmament and all the animals to roam the earth but it wasn't Him who did all of this. The world wasn't even done by Jesus Himself but by the Spirit of God: The Holy Spirit! It was He who created everything in the seven days. It was He who brought the tongues of fire. It was He who separated the water and it was He who performed all of Jesus' miracles. He raised Lazarus from the dead and it was ultimately Him who raised Jesus from the grave. So I ask you all this; what powers do Jesus and God have when the Holy Spirit hoards all the gifts? Are Father and Son truly Spirits because if they were then they would not need the Holy Spirit to do their bidding for them. What then does that make the Holy Spirit? Is he truly a Spirit or is He an angel?

If He is an angel then angels are far more than just measly messengers. Angels think for themselves, act on their own free will, fend for themselves and can even show feats of power whenever they deam them necessary to be seen. So Sixth Star, are gifts from the Holy Spirit given in a righteous manner….or for evil deeds?"

"Get out of my head now!! 2nd Corinthians 10:4-6 says, 'The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. We WILL be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete."

My obedience!! You won't stop until I start looking through your eyes! Only then will you start punishing others' disobedience? Maybe I'm not the one in need of changing but you. Those verses may save you now but in the due time you won't be able to use them forever. Go ahead and look at your reflection in the water. Tell me what you see."

"Star, whatever it is you're about to see, just know that it's only a hallucination. None of it is real!!"

"There is nothing to be afraid of. The water is only knee deep!!"

"What do you see?"

"I….I don't see anything."

"Move closer."

"Hold on a minute. A face is appearing in the midst. Wait, why is it moving? It's getting closer…..and closer….and....aghhhhh!!!! It's got me. It's got me!! Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Time to see who you truly are, sister."

"Help! Help! He...blu blu blu blu...."

"Where did you take her?"

"You need not worry about that dear. Oh, Sofia; before I go I almost forgot to give you something. I think this boat belongs to you!!