Jack rubbed his hand over his face. What did this mean?

“Jack. Evil is being restrained.”

Cath’s eyes were serious. Borderline fanatic, but that was his own insecurities coming though. He pondered. No deaths relating to criminal activity. The last death was the incident at the river on Sunday night.

Cath brought up the calendar on the screen. “Adventus first appeared on Monday morning. There were some offences recorded on Monday, but crimes have dropped off since people become aware of Adventus, or since it made its appearance.”

“Like Adventus is casting a spell over the criminally minded.” Jack had intended that as a joke, but Cath’s lips remained tight.

“Jack, I find this hard. Did you want me to talk to you honestly? It’s frustrating, as I’ve mentioned before, but this is a spiritual thing. I’m not sure if you need more proof. You’re my partner, and I always want to be honest with you.”

Jack looked around. There were a couple of officers within earshot. One was Jonas, who particularly didn’t like hearing any religious talk.

He looked over toward the meeting and interview rooms. One was vacant. “Come on, Cath, let’s go have a chat.”

30 - Not seeing but believing

They opened the door of the interviewing room. The AC had kept the sealed room cool, bordering on cold. Jack made himself comfortable and placed his bottled water on the table. He wouldn’t be drinking that. He looked around for the AC settings and realised for the first time what a bland room it was.

Cath sat opposite him. She grabbed a remote from a small table behind her. “This is what you’re after.” She shivered and made some adjustments. “You remember the case on the island? Our mate Churchie—you know the demon seer—and the impact he had on us?”

Jack would be glad to be on that island now. “Yeah. Opened my eyes about the influence of demons on society. I remember him confirming the things crazed drug addicts saw were demons.”

Churchie had opened up the unseen world to him, the dark heavy cover creeping over society, a blanket of evil. But since then he’d been on autopilot, back into the battlefield without much thought. Running away from … from what? He wasn’t sure. He’d never stopped to think about the unseen world, but the addicts had all described the same thing, something unseen, something controlling them, something other than the drug. But he had pushed it all away. What was the relevance now?

Cath was flicking through her notepad. “You may not remember, but we once had a chat about the restraining forces on evil and that was a role we played.”

Jack searched his memory banks. Sin seemed to be the dominant thought. Something about evil living inside flashed through. “I have a vague memory of that man we interviewed—his name has slipped my mind—where he tried to blame his dad for his behaviour. We brought it back to him and what was going on in his head. I think we concluded that both his dad and he were being controlled by evil.”

“Yeah. I think that was just a snapshot of what we already knew. I think Churchie made it more real.”

Jack continued to search his memories.

Cath gave him a prompt. “What would happen if there were no law enforcement officers? Would evil run amok?”

He remembered now. He’d asked what the other restraining forces were. “I think you mentioned that God will one day take away the forces restraining evil, so my understanding is that evil will only get worse. But that’s not what’s happening here.”

“No, it’s the opposite, Jack. God has increased his restraining powers for some reason. Yes, here comes the God talk. In his kingdom there will be no evil.” Cath swallowed.

He appreciated what she was doing.

“Jack we’re told and taught—they want us to believe—the source of evil in the world is external to man. That evil is rooted in the corruption of society. We fix society and fix the environment, and we fix man’s problems.”

“Yep. Doesn’t seem to be working, though.” He knew that, but the distractions of his work combined with his other escape activities kept these things from his mind.

“We can’t change people’s basic nature by changing their environment. There are lawbreakers at all levels of society—on the streets, in the suburbs, in our workplaces, in our government. Many of those people live in a good environment.”

Something else Jack understood but didn’t think about. He let Cath continue.

“These views are in complete contrast to what Christians believe. We believe the source of evil is rooted within man’s fallen nature, and the only way change can take place is when a person puts his faith in Jesus.”

“And this is where people get confused.” Jack knew he needed to have this discussion. Too much confusion. Too many things on his mind that needed clarification.

“I think people get confused when they bring the word ‘sin’ into the equation,” Cath said. “People think of sin as an external act, something you do. But external sin is often influenced by our internal spiritual condition, and by an unseen world. And those influences turn into actions, and we sin.”

“Do you mean thoughts?”

“Yes. Most of the time. Who controls them? Demons or angels?”

“I have a vision of little people sitting on my shoulders and whispering in my ears.” Jack brushed his left shoulder.

Cath smiled. “I wonder where that vision came from?”

Jack laughed. “This is way too heavy.”

“It is, but Adventus is making it real. It needs to be talked about.”

“You said, ‘in his kingdom there will be no evil’. So has his kingdom come?”

“Not yet physically. It may be coming.” She pointed to the ceiling. “The alien spacecraft contains a city being transported to take up residence on earth. The images are real. Maybe God is giving us a glimpse of what’s coming, of what it will be like to be in his kingdom.”

“Does everyone get to live in his kingdom?”

“No. Only those who put their faith in Jesus.”

“And those who don’t?”

“The Bible isn’t clear, but I believe those outside the kingdom will find there are no restraining forces on evil. The Bible talks about an outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

His head was ready to explode. He couldn’t get his head around what Cath was saying.

Cath sensed his mood. “No more for now, Jack.” She looked at him, her face sad with a look of helplessness. She placed her hands on his. “One thing Churchie talked about was the last days. He was convinced they’re not far away.”

At one stage, Jack had considered Churchie just another religious fanatic, but the man could see things. Those things were very real to him … and to Cath.  

“Jack, we’re in the last days.” Her hands were still on his. “You need to get things right with your wife and son. More importantly, you need to get things right with God.”

Blunt, but he needed to hear it. “I’ve heard it before. Faith defined as trusting in something you can’t see or in something you can’t prove.”

“We can see Adventus, and God does have a plan.”

“And that is …”

“To set up his Kingdom.”

Jack nodded. He felt weary.

“Do you believe in Jesus?”