nd in my dream, I looked, and saw a great and desolate plain. Although I could not feel it, the wilderness looked cold.
In the middle of this plain, a man was walking. He did not seem to be despondent; in fact, I thought he was singing. He was not yet aware of the mob approaching him from behind; it was a small crowd, perhaps several hundred. They all appeared to be very angry; they were carrying clubs, and shovels, and rakes. A few even had guns and swords.
Suddenly the solitary figure stopped, and turned around. He did not appear to be surprised at all with this riot of anger in the middle of nowhere. In fact, he looked as though he had been expecting it.
He greeted them, and suddenly in my dream I could hear.
"Good day, travelers."
The crowd stopped short. I could hear an undercurrent of muttering.
There were several burly men out front, and one of them spoke.
"Where is he? Are you one of his?"
"Whom do you mean?"
The man hesitated...but then his obvious anger drove him on.
"We are looking for god."
Even in my dream I admired the courage of the solitary man. He looked over the seething mob, and appeared to be amused at the weapons. He seemed to be wondering how God could be hit with a shovel.
"And why do you seek Him? Do you wish to become His servants?"
"No!" the crowd roared. The burly man spoke again.
"We are going to bring him to trial."
The eyebrows of the solitary man went up. "Oh? And what are the charges?"
"There is great hardship and evil in the world, and he is responsible for it. We are going to try him for crimes against humanity."
The solitary man said nothing, which immediately aroused the mob's suspicions. Someone in the back shouted something about stupid lackeys, and the rest of the crowd took up the theme.
"Ask him if he is a slave to god, Mike!"
Mike, who was the burly man, did.
"Are you a slave to this god?"
The solitary man lifted his head. "I am a slave to God, yes."
A hiss ran through the crowd. The anger, which had cooled when they stopped marching, flared up again.
"Try him, try him! A slave will do for now!"
Mike took a threatening step toward the solitary man, and then stopped. He began to pace back and forth, and started to ask questions as though he were the head of a catechism class. "Are you a slave of god?"
"Yes."
"Are you aware that he is accused of crimes against humanity?"
"Yes, I am aware that he is accused."
"Is there evil in the world? And is there great hardship?"
The gaze of the solitary man ran over the crowd; his entire demeanor shouted that he was looking at evil in the world but he did not say so. "Yes, there is evil in the world."
Mike jabbed a finger at the solitary man.
"Why is there evil in the world?"
"Because God has decreed that some will believe the lies of their own hearts."
The entire mob gasped and took a few steps backward, and some in the rear even fell to the ground. They jumped up again immediately, and they all began to shout. Mike's face was purple with rage.
"You admit his guilt then?"
"Not at all. I admit your guilt. And I assert His total control of your rebellion against Him."
The solitary man turned, and began to walk away, with a fierce and holy laughter on his face. The crowd fell on him.
And then in my dream I saw a small band of people huddled together, again in the middle of the desolate plain. They were plainly shaken, and were seeking to comfort one another.
"Jonathan had courage, but he was foolish. Foolish." A middle-aged woman was shaking her head.
A man with a kindly face spoke up. "It was all so unnecessary. If only I could have spent more time with him! Why resist a trial? God is good, and He would be acquitted! But Jonathan wouldn't even think of it!"
Another man spoke up.
"Jonathan was a fine Christian, but we all have to recognize that he could be hard-headed at times. There was no need for him to antagonize the crowd like that. Some of the things Jonathan believed were really hard to swallow. I don't believe some of it. How could he expect them to? Why would he say such things?"
A young girl looked at her companions. "Because they were true. And Jonathan loved the truth."
