The Dead Man

Carl awoke with a start and looked around him; he was in a room (if that's what you wanted to call it) with two double doors that were 10 times his height, one behind him and one in front of him, apart from that, there was nothing else in the 'room'.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You are in the Judgment Hall," said a voice behind him.

Carl turned around, startled, and saw a man clothed in a white trench coat, white shirt, white jeans and no shoes,

"Who are you?" asked Carl.

"Follow me," said the man, and he went to a desk behind him, Carl could have sworn that desk was not there before. The man pulled out a leather-bound book from his trench coat and opened it and said, "According to the Book of Life, you led a life dedicated to the Lord, but you were tempted to sin and did so on many occasions…"

"What are you…?" Carl started, but the man cut him off,

"Because of your condition of death, the Lord has said that He still has some work left for you to do."

"The Lord?" asked Carl, "You mean God?"

The man just stared at Carl with a look that told Carl the answer, "And I'm…"

"Yes," the man answered.

"But how?" asked Carl, "I can't remember how…who am I?"

"Those questions will be answered in time," said the man, "Do you remember the Bible?"

"Yeah," answered Carl, "In fact, that's all I can remember."

"Good," said the man, "When you wake up, you will be in front of a big building ask for Gabriel, he will help you understand."

"Understand what? Who are you?" asked Carl, but before he got an answer, he was in a deserted street in front of a building which had the sign: LIBRARY OF ANCIENT WORKS, above its door.

The Library reminded Carl of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, "What kind of a guy lives in a place like this?" Carl asked himself, "I'm not going in that building…nope…not going."

Carl opened the huge double doors and was welcomed by an enormous entrance hall. The hall had a circular opening in its ceiling with floors and floors of bookshelves. In front of Carl was a huge marble fireplace and above the fireplace was a painting which was as high as four men standing on top of each other, this painting depicted the Crucifixion of Christ. On the mantle piece was a crucifix (on the right side) and the Mogen Dovid (on the left), "Whoa," said Carl

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a man behind him.

Carl turned around to see a man dressed in a white suit, "Who are…?" Carl began.

"My name is Gabriel," said the man, "Pleased to meet you.

"Why did that guy tell me to ask for you if you were going to find me anyway?" asked Carl.

"I see you were eyeing that painting," said Gabriel, ignoring the question.

"Yeah," said Carl looking at the painting; it was a very vivid painting which showed blood pouring the wounds on Christ's wrists, feet and side in a very gruesome way, "Yeah you certainly have the…carnage right."

"The carnage does not matter," said Gabriel, "What matters is what the carnage represents…it represents how "through His wounds you are healed".

"Right," said Carl, "What's with the crucifix and the Star of David?"

"The crucifix is our sword and the Mogen Dovid is our shield," replied Gabriel.

"Sword and shield against what?" asked Carl.

"Come with me," said Gabriel, "I have to explain some things."