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37 C Chapter 5 fter the mysterious disturbance in the middle of the night, Matipa lay on the bed frightened and bewildered. For hope and an assurance her life wouldn’t end that night, that something grand awaited her in the future, she recalled the prophecy delivered at the apostolic shrine on the eve of the New Year: Multitudes pack the shrine. The prophet goes round the fire and stares at the womenfolk, seemingly scanning. After a while, he points at her. She kneels on the ground, her hands clasped in humility. “Madzimai, tell your husband at God’s appointed time he’ll pick digging tools and dig. Go and say to his face, ‘The prophet says when you dig, dig, dig, and dig!’ Madzimai, wealth awaits you and your husband underground! If you can turn him from his wickedness, he’ll find the wealth sooner than later! Make God’s bosom your habitation!” The recollection soothed her to sleep, but as confirmation the night of 7 December wasn’t ordinary, further mystery caught up with her in her dreams. She dreamt gliding above rugged rocky cliffs in an uninhabited mountainous area unfamiliar to her. She was high in the sky like a kite, drifting near portentous, dark shifting and swirling clouds that sought to devour her, it seemed. Because she knew she was wingless, and the invisible force that gave her buoyancy and propelled her was her lifeline, fear was her companion. The earth was too far below. On it, she would splatter to a certain death if she fell. The clouds were gloomy by their appearance and turbulence. Her safety rested on the resilience of whatever borne her between earth and Heaven. Yes, she learnt, the ground below was man’s world, her world, and the dome was God’s abode. She should’ve known earlier, but it hadn’t occurred to her until then. The appearance of Heaven was worrisome. Why was the ethereal world so threatening? Was she ascending for the ultimate audience with the Master of the A 38 Day of Judgment? Were her earthly sins tinting her view of a peaceful reality for her to abort and fall to her second death? She searched above her for signs perchance she might catch a glimpse of trumpets or angels, something to urge her on. Instead, she saw a distant blob, shadowy and animated. It was gliding toward her at a tremendous speed, looming in her eyes. The jetting figure became a silhouette, which kept coming. She noticed it was a man in dark clothing. He was on a horse. Was this the rider in pale clothing written in the Book of Revelations; the deadly rider God cautioned humankind to beware because with him would come death? Suddenly all the scriptures came to a head within her. She wasn’t supposed to fear anything: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me... No weapon fashioned against me shall prosper...Yet her boldness faltered; she lacked the resolve to believe, and she looked down. Below she discerned another movement on a cliff directly beneath her. Squinting, she noticed the blotted figure of a man dwarfed by height, but the figure below wasn’t pertinent, the rider was. If she ignored the rider, she could collide with him and fall to her death. She looked ahead. The rider was now nearer and scything towards her, acquiring details and colour, becoming more distinguishable by the second. The rider loomed, a dark figure. He was black and in striped loose clothing. However, contrary to the unnerving verse that stupefied and dangerously transfixed her, she remembered a biblical occurrence; the appearance to Joshua of the Archangel Michael in outstanding apparel when the trekking Jews were battling five kings and the Israelites were on the verge of defeat. At first, the archangel looked hostile to Joshua and his warriors, but when the heavenly being was interrogated, the Jews were happy to learn the archangel was the commander of heavenly legions God sent to assist the Chosen Tribe smite their enemies that day. Looking at the rider racing towards her, she chose not to be sceptical. To think and believe Heaven had despatched an angel to assist her in her moment of need when she was precariously in the air was an act of faith. A person of faith [3.146.65...

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