Fiction

The Unbelievable Tales of the Afterlife

Nothing in Silver City is as you’d expect it to be

When I arrived at Silver City, I was handed over to Michael who guarded the pearly gate. The Angel of Death who carried me there had a few moments with Michael and told me he’d be on his way and that everything will be okay. I was expecting to see a serious-looking old angel at the gate who would play the tapes of my life and if I were deemed unworthy to enter, would send me to hell, but Michael looked just like a man, quite young and very cheery. He was busy flipping through some pages of a huge book titled “The Book of Life.” As I looked around me, I was mesmerized by the giant pearly gate that was in front of me. It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen.

Michael took a good look at me as if looking into my soul and led me inside what looked like a giant castle. He told me to go around the back to where the old folks were gathered and to look for the lady with the most gray hair and she would teach me.

“Uhm, excuse me, sir. Where’s the video where you show my life, my sins, and my shame and then cast me into the flames of hell?”

“Cast you into the flames of hell?” he asked and burst out laughing. He told me to go on, pointing to the group of people over there trying hard to catch his breath.

I didn’t get why he was laughing so hard, but I walked. There was a group of old souls who wore flowery gowns. I wondered why I was being sent to them. As I walked to where they were, I observed the place. Everything in Silver City was huge. There were some giants gathered at the far right and it seemed like they were “talking big things” but they were too far up in the sky to hear what they were saying. One of them who wasn’t really paying attention to what was being said saw me walking past, bent down, and said welcome to Silver City. He smiled to show all of his teeth.

Were those mountains for teeth? I thought to myself and smiled back. Hurriedly, I went to join the older lady who had her hand stretched out for me. She was older, but not old. They weren’t wrinkly. I’m not sure why they were called old, but they had white hair that moved like water. Their gray hairs made them look like they’d been around for far too long. She knew my name, and the others did too. They seemed pleased to meet me.

“We’ve been expecting you, Kimiel,” she said. “I hope the angel of death and Michael didn’t mess with you at the gate.”

I smiled, and as I was thinking about asking her about the tapes because I did some pretty horrible things while I was alive, I felt something weird in the lower portion of my body. It was the strangest feeling.

I had no legs!

I thought I was walking the whole time, but I looked down when what seemed like a white baby tiger run through my lower body.

“Whoa, wtf!” I said looking down at my body, but I quickly caught myself, looked up at the divine old lady with the gray hair, and said, “Oops,” with my hand over my mouth.

Did I just cuss in heaven?

“You wouldn’t have been sent to us if you didn’t cuss,” she said as the others laughed and looked on. “You won’t believe the number of times I said, ‘What the fuck,' as I watched you do some dumb shit!”

Wow. I laughed nervously and asked, “Where are my legs?”

The baby tiger kept running into me — well, through me — so I bent down and picked him up. He licked my face, and it was so wet, but the slob quickly vanished and he stared into my eyes. It looked familiar and I couldn’t take my eyes off. It was like I was being compelled by its gaze. His eyes were a movie and something was playing. It was me during my time on Earth. It was the night I had a dream and saw the white tigers in the sky. I thought I was making that stuff up, but there really was a white tiger cub in the sky. The lady with gray hair grabbed the baby tiger, rubbed his belly, and he ran off. I turned to look, but he had disappeared.

“What was that?” I asked. “And what happened to my legs?”

Souls don’t need legs. And the tiger watched out for you many times. It is your spirit animal. He was just showing you his memories of you, but it’s not the time for that yet. It’ll come back later when you have to go.

“Go? Go where?”

She didn’t answer me. She led the group, and we went in through a door. We went past a room and there were some angels in there chatting and playing around with each other. If this were Earth, they would be the bad boys. They were kind of hot, if that was an appropriate way to describe angelic beings. They were older angels, kind of ruthless, and their wings were brushing against each other, talking really loudly. One of them said, “I’m ready to retire from my angelic duties. Do we have any new souls who are ready to take over yet?”

I had stopped to listen. One of them saw me and winked. He was very good-looking and his wings were white and massive and his face shined like gold. I smiled and ran off to join the old folks.

One old soul turned and said, “You didn’t change. I see you’re still very inquisitive.”

I knew I was in Silver City and so I was eager to meet God and Jesus. After all, nobody played the tapes to me. If it wasn’t played at the gate, then Jesus would probably take me to a room. It’d be just us and he’d play the tape. I was really worried about the tapes. I did some things on earth I was ashamed of. But God wasn't there and Jesus was nowhere to be found. I asked where Jesus was and one of the folks said he’s never where you’d expect him to be. So I concluded, like most kings, he’s in a castle somewhere with servants at his feet. I walked over to the lady with gray hair to inquire about God, the Father. I was yearning to see my heavenly father.

“Where is God?”

“What do you mean? He’s in your heart!” she said as she kept moving. She didn’t stop and explain this further.

“He’s in my heart?”

“Always.”

Then I heard music. The most beautiful music I’ve ever heard. I wasn’t sure who or what was singing. It sounded otherworldly, but of course, it’d sound otherworldly. It was a whole new world.

“Come on!” a younger-looking lady in the group called out. Let’s go hear the choir sing. She opened the doors to a huge temple. The most beautiful temple I’d ever seen. The lights were way too bright and the music way too loud. I thought, “Wow, this would be too bright and too loud if I was still human”, but it felt like nourishment for my soul and I soaked it all in. I thought this is where Jesus would be, along with all the righteous religious people.

“There is no religion here,” one lady quickly turned and said to me.

“Can you read my thoughts?’’ I said, looking at her strangely.

She didn’t answer me. She said come on! I followed her to the front. I saw some angels leading the choir. These were a different group of angels than the ones I saw earlier talking so loud about retirement. These were much younger angels and their voice… their voice was magic. There were some birds singing too. There were some friendly snakes listening to the music. For the first time, I didn’t squirm at the sight of a snake.

Everything there felt like home, but Jesus wasn’t there.

So far, Silver City was nothing like I thought it’d be. We went out to the front, and I heard people talking loudly coming from a building. I peeked inside.

“Who are those people?” I asked the lady with the gray hair.

She said it was the sinners. The humans who failed their mission on earth and have to go back.

“They are here too?” I asked, surprised.

“Where else would they be?” She said. “This place belongs to everybody.”

We went inside and saw men and women having what looked like a party. Some were drinking and dancing, others were eating, but most were gathered around someone and they were listening to him teach.

The lady with gray hair showed me around as she taught me. Among the sinners, there were those who judged. Those who lied. Those who stole. Those who killed. There were those who used and abused others. There were those who made people cry. No sin was bigger than the other. In Silver City, every sin was a sin.

I walked past the lady with gray hair and stood by the group, trying to get through to the front. And there He was. It was Jesus.

“Why is Jesus hanging out and partying with the sinners?” I thought to myself.

He must have heard my thoughts because he looked up at me quickly with eyes as bright as the sun that went as deep as the ocean. He smiled in a way that answered all the thoughts in my head.

“He didn’t come for the righteous. He came to call the sinners to repentance. And in the Silver City, they weren’t sinners; they were souls just like everybody else. They were repentant souls that were getting ready to go back to earth to get it right.”

I remembered the three parables demonstrating how God seeks the lost and how pleased he is when sinners repent. The sinners were drawn to him, and he gladly spent time with those who were open to his teaching. He forgave repentant sinners and embraced those who believed in him.

“Jesus is a friend of sinners, not because he loves sin. He hates the sin, but he loves the sinner. He is a friend who comes to save lost souls and is pleased to welcome those who are open to the gospel, sorry for their sins, and on their way to finally getting it right,” the lady with the gray hair taught me.

“Can everybody read thoughts here?” I asked.

“Of course,” she replied. “There are no secrets around here.”

There were so many thoughts going on in my head at that point, and I think Jesus knew it. He excused himself and got up. He walked to me, put his hand around me, and walked me outside.

“You haven’t changed much, Kimiel,” he said. “You still ask so many questions.”

“Can we chat?” I asked.

“Let’s walk,” Jesus said.

He already knew everything I wanted to ask, so he took me to the Palace of Souls. I had many questions on the topic of souls.

We went to a place where souls who were ready to go back to earth went. There was a very wide veil on one end of the room which I assumed was the veil of forgetfulness. It was pretty cool. On one side you remembered everything and on the other side, you knew nothing at all.

“All souls returning to earth must go under the veil to be erased of any memories of the past. This is so they get a fresh start and a chance to get it right,” Jesus answered my thoughts.

There were some souls getting ready to go under the veil. They seemed pretty excited to be going back.

“Yes. It’s true that souls choose their mothers, their pain, and their purpose,” Jesus answered a thought in my head again.

He showed me the different groups of souls there were in Heaven. The first group was the sinner souls. After they feasted and listened to Jesus teach, it was time for them to go back to earth and try again. They reincarnated onto earth to accumulate enough good deeds. Only then could they stay permanently in Silver City.

“But what about those who hate and mock God on Earth? Do they also get a chance to try again?” I asked.

“Well, every soul has free will, but you live the consequences of your choices. You get away with nothing. There is always a price to pay. Those who hate and mock God are not children of God. They go to a different place and they learn,” He answered as we moved on.

The second was the volunteer souls. These were souls who volunteered and were being sent to earth to complete a mission or learn some more to evolve their souls. 100 years on earth was only a year at Silver City, so going back was not a big deal to them.

And then there were souls who had returned to Silver City without completing their mission. These were the souls of children who died from miscarriages, stillbirths, abortions, sicknesses, and premature deaths. It was also the souls of adults who died before their time. Some of them returned to the Earth quickly, and they got to choose where they went. Some went into the same families born as the next newborn, and others chose different families.

I was especially curious about the baby souls who were returning to Earth.

“The souls of children of miscarriages, stillbirths, sicknesses, and premature deaths returned to their mothers. They were always reunited?” Jesus answered my thought.

“But what about the souls that got aborted?” I asked.

“Souls don’t get aborted. Bodies get aborted.” Jesus answered.

A baby soul knows the thoughts of the mother. It knows it when the mother they chose isn’t ready for them and is considering abortion, so they leave and return to Silver City. What remains in the mother to be aborted is just an earthly body with no soul attached to it. Some of them — if the mother bonded with them and communicated their intentions before aborting the pregnancy — stayed to comfort the mother during the process. Others returned to Silver City and waited to choose those same mothers when they were ready for children, and others chose different mothers if they couldn’t wait.”

“Does that mean it's okay to abort bodies?” I asked.

“No,” He said. “It’s never okay to abort. That disrupts the order of things, but people have free will to do as they wish.”

“So what happens to the mothers who committed abortions when they die?” I asked.

“They come here after their mission on earth is complete, and if they loved and believed in God and repented of their sins and accumulated enough good deeds, they stayed in Silver City. If not, there was a price to pay. They had to go back and get it right.”

“How do you see people who have abortions?” I asked Jesus.

“I hold them close to my heart,” Jesus said. “Come with me.”

I followed through what seemed like a vast jungle that spread far across the heavens. There was every animal and they could all communicate with Jesus. Jesus loved all the animals, and they knew who he was. There was also every tree, every plant, every crop, and every herb.

We walked through the forest and what I saw next shocked me. There was a vast cannabis plantation, and there were some souls tending to the plants. Jesus went to talk to one of the souls, and I stood there in awe.

“What? There is cannabis in Silver City?” I thought to myself.

I saw one soul hand Jesus something. He returned to where I stood and said, “Of course, there is cannabis in Silver City. There is every plant in Silver City. God made every plant, and it’s all good especially this one!’’ He showed me a blunt.

“Is it bad to smoke cannabis on Earth? There is no teaching of it in the Bible,” I asked.

“Cannabis is medicine, just like ginger, turmeric, elderberry, garlic, ayahuasca, etc. It was created so humans could use it to heal their ailments. It is only bad if you abuse the plant by using it way too much or misuse it solely for pleasure or to escape your reality. Plants are living things and every living being hates being abused or misused,” he explained to me.

As if to say cheers, He raised the thing that was handed to him by the soul in the field. It was a rolled-up blunt. He smoked it and passed it to me.

“Wow,” I thought to myself.

I took it and smoked it too. It was nothing like I had ever experienced. We ascended into the highest parts of heaven.

The next thing I knew, we were in the computer room and I was watching my life unfold before my eyes. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Jesus was standing next to me with a serious look on his face.

“Uh oh,” I thought.

When the tape finished playing, He asked me if I wanted to go back to earth as a volunteer soul.

“Do I have a choice?” I asked.

“Of course you do.” He said. “Only sinner souls have no choice but to go back.”

“But I’m a sinner. I did some pretty horrible things.”

“But you repent of your sins? Didn’t you?” He turned his face to me and asked.

“Yes. I repent. I wish I’d done none of those things. I wish I could take it all back but I can’t. I’m really sorry for the things I did when I didn’t know any better. Please forgive me,” I sobbed into my hands.

“I know,” He said. “You pray for forgiveness every day, but I forgave you the very first time you asked. As far as the East is from the West is how far I’ve removed your past sins from you.”

“Then no!”

“No, what?”

“No, I don’t want to go back to that place,” I said.

“Oh, c’mon. It’s not that bad. It’s a school, you know?”

“Yes, I know, but no thanks. Unless you need me to go for a certain purpose, then here I am. Send me wherever you need me to go and I will go,” I said as I bowed my head.

“No, I don't need you to go. It’s your choice.”

“Whew,” I said as I cleaned the sweat off of my forehead. We both laughed and walked out of the room.

I was relieved that was over.

We went outside to where the old folks were gathered, waiting for us. Jesus went over and said something to the lady with the gray hair. He turned around and said he must go.

“Wait!” I called out to him.

I still had more questions, but he seemed to be in a hurry. There were two things I really needed to know.

“Is hell real?”

“Hell is real, just as heaven is real. As above, so below. There’s a Kingdom up here and there’s a kingdom in the heart of the earth for those who hate and reject me. I’m glad you chose well, Kimiel,” he smiled and turned to walk away.

“God!” I cried out loud. “Where is God, the Father?”

Jesus stopped with his back turned to me.

“I AM right here,” a still deep voice spoke into my heart. I immediately knew it was the voice of God. I melted into my heart.

Jesus turned his face to me, winked, and said, “See you back here soon.” He disappeared into the heavens.

“Back here? I thought I was staying here.”

Before I could ask any more questions, the baby tiger out of nowhere jumped up on me flying right through me. I woke up in my bed on the Earth with my heart pounding out of my chest.

“Unbelievable!”