top of the stone pedestal was a large eagle, as in the vision of the Oval Office. The moment the king stepped out of the stone house, his appearance transformed. It was now that of a man in a dark-blue business suit, a red tie, and blondish hair. He placed the golden cylinder in the talons of the eagle, which then took off into the sky and disappeared. The man then returned to the stone house, where his appearance changed back to that of the golden king, sat down on the golden throne, and became motionless. It was then that I noticed the words engraved beneath his feet: ‘I too am he.’”
THE BOY ON THE HILL
“In the next vision I saw the same two angels from the vision of the threshing floor. The one now led the other through a valley and a meadow and into an enclosed garden. Inside the garden was a little boy sitting on the ground and playing with little stone blocks, building houses. The angels sat down by the boy, one on each side. One of the angels handed him a ram’s horn. But the boy showed little interest. The scene now changed. The boy was older and racing with other boys up to the top of a hill. Reaching its summit before the rest, he noticed a small platform of white stone. He stood on it. At that moment, the angel appeared and handed him the ram’s horn. ‘It is time,’ he said to the boy. ‘It was for this moment that you were born.’ ‘How could that be,’ asked the boy, ‘if I had no idea?’ ‘Does the trumpet need to know it was appointed,’ said the angel, ‘in order to sound? It is not the vessel, but He who sounds it.’ The boy then lifted the horn to his mouth and sounded it. And on a distant hill an angel lifted a horn of radiant gold and did likewise.”
THE POOL OF LIGHTS
“In the next vision I was standing on a white marble terrace outside of some sort of palace. It was early evening. Around me were at least forty men in white robes and white headpieces and of Middle Eastern features. Everyone was gathered around a large oval pool of water encased in a wall of a stones. In their midst was a man I presumed to be their leader or teacher. His appearance was likewise Middle Eastern but different from the rest. His clothing was different as well, of blue, purple, and scarlet. In his hand was a rod, at the end of which was a fire. As he moved the rod over the surface of the pool, a line of yellow light would appear in the deep blue of the water, remain for a time, then fade away. I watched as he drew two crowns, two lions, and two eyes. ‘What is the meaning of the images?’ asked one of the white-robed men. ‘The crowns,’ said the man with the rod, ‘stand for kings; the lions, for cities; and the eyes, for the appointed times.’”
THE CYLINDER
“At the start of the final vision it took me a few moments before I could tell what I was seeing. It was a cylinder of stone or clay and covered with wedge-shaped letters.”
“Why couldn’t you tell what it was?”
“Because it was so colossal. It was several stories high and far wider than it was high. At each of its ends stood guards, bearded, robed, and crowned with ornate headdresses. One of them shouted a command. The cylinder began to roll, slowly at first but with increasing momentum at every turn. I watched as it rolled over plains, valleys, and deserts. Finally, with what was left of its momentum, it rolled up a mountain. On the top of the mountain was a plateau. As the cylinder rolled over the plateau, the engraved words on its surface were imprinted on the ground. And as the sun set, rays of golden light began shooting up from each letter. And then from each pillar of light came other lights, shooting horizontally across the plateau until all the vertical lights were joined together. A structure began to emerge—a building formed entirely of light. Then a man appeared in a dark-blue suit, a red tie, and blondish hair. I had seen him before. He stood in front of the building with a paper, as if about to issue a proclamation. ‘I have been charged,’ he said, ‘to build a house