The Gallery (cont'd from Mar 11 posting)

As our journey continued, we found ourselves for a short time in a brightly lit area, totally in contrast to what we had seen and experienced so far.  Before us was a large display that appeared to be molded out of white Styrofoam.  It consisted of tiered rows of slightly sculpted receptacles, spaced uniformly a few inches apart throughout the entire array.  In each receptacle was an object having the size, shape and appearance of an ordinary vitamin or medicine capsule.  The capsules were dark brown in color and mounted in an upright position.

What a curious sight!  This didn’t seem to fit in at all with our experience up to this point.  Then we saw something even more bizarre.  Floating around just in front of our faces, were a few yellow, inch-or-so-high objects that, at first glance, could have been mistaken for some kind of fanciful cartoon bird.  They had what appeared to be two large brown eyes, and to what seemed to be the nose was attached a slowly turning transparent propeller.  On their bodies they carried two clear, pin-head size cups.  “These are actually kind-of cute,” I thought to myself, “with their big brown eyes.”  They seemed to be looking right at me as they floated by.

What could be the significance of all this?  And what were these small brown capsules?  How long had they been there…days...months...years...longer?  Then it hit me…there was nothing cute at all about this.
Not only is what you hear in this place not trustworthy, but what you see is equally intended to deceive. In fact, it was totally horrifying.  I remembered that in the book that our predecessors had written they talked about the little yellow objects and had even given them the name, “Two-er”, because of the two cups they carried.  Also, the commentary of events that I was hearing in my head was clarifying what this whole scene was really about.

Each capsule was actually a person.  This seemed to be the eventual fate of everyone arriving: to be reduced to a small capsule and mounted permanently with no interaction with others and no hope of any change – ever. 

 

So what were the “Two-ers”?  They supposedly were designed to deliver their tiny cups of water to the fixed capsules, but seemed to have no means to physically transfer the water (if there was any) and the capsules no way to receive it, parched and thirsty as they may have been.  Their real purpose seemed intended to tantalize and torment, not to satisfy.  

And the two brown eyes?  I realized they were simply two capsules mounted into the front of the device horizontally – how cruel and diabolical all this was.  When I thought about the two “eyes” seeming to look at me as they floated by, I wondered if they somehow knew this place could not keep us and longed to escape with us, but it was too late.  It was heartbreaking.

The following story told by Jesus in Chapter 16 of Luke's Gospel puts all of this in perspective:

19 "Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.20 "And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.24 "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'25 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.26 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'27 "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house—28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'29 "But Abraham said , 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'30 "But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!'31 "But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.' "

Luke 16:19-31 (NASB)