by Zygmunt Nowak Solinski
Headlines in all languages precisely at the same time around the globe – ‘God Shuts Heavenly Gates’. That was when all Hell was let loose, an appropriate way of describing the unfolding situation, given its magnitude. No one knew why He cancelled. No forewarning. Just a clang from above and a strict announcement. Certainly, there had been no consultation with lesser mortals. I mean, as if He would? In any case, there was no one with a direct line to Him, though many tried. The news trickled down fast as souls at the Pearly Gates were refused entry. All that was left for them was to hang about in Purgatory, and that was filling fast. Hell said it would take some of the overspill, but there weren’t many volunteers. Finally, news came that Hell was being closed as well. The Reason? We had to wait for an answer.
There was really no arguing with Him. Even of finding Him.
And of course, the atheists scoffed. ‘Told you so!’ they clamoured and laughed. As did many other non-denominational groups, but not so loudly, as they could see that they were going to be out of business in the very near future. In general, the masses, some of whom had never heard of Him, were too complacent or spaced out to, in actual fact, take in the announcement. It had appeared on televisions, radios, on telephones, in cinemas, on all communication media. In all languages. It could not be ignored as it continued for seven days. Then stopped. There were those who did not get the message. Most of them did not care one way or another. As a result of the No Heaven message, there was a tremendous spike in civil criminality by individuals to state-run massive corruption. And when Hell went the same way, the planet turned on itself as if to devour its masses before expiring. ‘What the Hell’ was the war cry in different languages. Yet some refused to believe, arguing that their God had not shut their heaven. Which turned into a stream of conversions in religious beliefs as people swapped theirs for a Heaven’s Gates open one. There was a problem with religions which professed and worshipped several gods, but there was too much happening on the world scale for it to become embroiled in obscure, irrelevant, minor religious squabbles. This standpoint was rejected to be straightened out among these polytheistic believers.
A petition was signed by the heads of over four thousand officially registered religions to be forwarded somehow to Him, pleading for an extension or a change of strategy so that the good people of the planet and believers of all sorts could find their places in Heaven. As had been promised. Even in the distant past, when there had only been blind obedience to whatever faith or religion a population became trapped in. The petition was read out in all the imaginable (and unimaginable) places of worship around the planet. The reading went on in some places for many days, and nights.
So this was to be the giant cop-out after all those years, centuries of kowtowing and bloodshed, this was to be our reward? The ungodly did not care. They would be returning to the star dust they had come from, not some heavenly paradise. A few religious groups were hard-pressed to explain to their followers that there would be no paradise for them with all the special trappings they had been promised. This led to many heated and bloody demonstrations, particularly by the younger generations who had been looking forward to their heavenly rewards. Some die-hards had to be compensated (here on Earth) to console them as their exactions were threatening.
For those hard agnostics, it was Dust to Dust, Life and Death as usual. Nothing had changed. The masses had been manipulated. Life went on. Get on with it whilst you can. Your reward will be perfect peace and oblivion. With no worries at last.
And then came the images! Wonderful, Amazing. All verified by the top info providers as not originating from any media earthly carrier. From Heaven. From the Gates. All electronic information screens were frozen by an abundance of heavenly images. Which meant, among many other consequences, no flights, airport ghost towns, very little road traffic, etc. And the military? Switched off. At a worldwide price, with many human (and non-human) casualties. – Leading to an uproar and protests, as this seemed to be the opposite reaction to what was necessary to keep numbers (the dead) down. – Breathtaking, wonderful images were received on phones, TVs, all and any screens, through to giant publicity hoardings and more. Giant 12K Holograms were floated over cities. Over oceans, over deserts, forests, mountains and deserted valleys. The entire planet was covered. An extraordinary technical accomplishment, it was agreed. But it was God’s work. Was it not? This became known as the Silent Week. This tranquil time was appreciated by many in the affected populations.
When the week came to an end, after seeing the gates and the souls waiting outside, millions of voices expressed their discontent and anger. ‘How many are there in Heaven? What is the population inside? Was it full up? Since when? When was He accepted for the first time? Can we not send back those stuck at the Gates, were some of the ideas put forward? Resurrect them. Stupid idea, others shouted What about those who had died by fire!? Or those mutilated in a car crash, drowned, rotted in graves, and so on. The idea was rejected completely. Some did not want their dead to return! The question posed more often than not was … What type of free-standing, intelligent creature first acknowledged an elusive authority he had to bow to? And how many were there? Calculations were made, but no numbers were arrived at. That is numbers that all parties agreed on. Even the time scale was vague, actually incalculable.
A year or so went by with many souls queuing, it was assumed, at the Heavenly Portals.
Leaders, holy men, elders, gurus, whatever they called themselves, rose out of this tsunami of destruction and despair. And others, charlatans offering a backdoor key to heaven for a million or more dollars or whatever currency they were scamming in. The more brazen offered Electronic Keys. The gullible bought into their schemes, and many a charlatan went off to lead a life of extreme wealth and debauchery. Till they died, of course. Or were frozen!
In a panic, a law was promulgated worldwide. No penetrative sexual intercourse was permitted under pain of death. As a result, in a few months, statistics revealed that population birth rates had fallen to practically zero. A few months were not considered enough time for this outcome, which resulted in more demonstrations around the world, quelled with brutal force. With the deaths following this widespread violence, the planet’s considerable population fell drastically. It was hoped that this would influence Him and persuade Him that his believers were trying their best to curtail population growth. However, it did not seem to have any effect. Mainly because there were many ‘accidents’ and, frankly, after several months had passed, the new restrictions were not adhered to by the populations of the planet. Birth rates kept falling, but apparently not enough to open a dialogue, or the Gates! It was at this point, amid all the murder and mayhem, that it was realised that as Heaven and Hell were CLOSED, there was no point in DYING! Why this had not been questioned earlier was left largely unanswered. It was presupposed the announcement, HEAVEN IS CLOSED, caused such a panic it had driven people from any rational, intelligent reasoning.
Enormous confusion ensued – worldwide chaos with the reorganisation of religious beliefs. Chaos at first, in the opening months, then a dampening of anger and final acceptance. Don’t Die Live As Long As You Can, which put an enormous strain on society – the very rich were unaffected. They bought themselves deep sleep cryonics programs. Good luck to them, most of the population cried out. This now became a planet population clinging to Life. An impossible feat!
Then, how many years later? We received the REASON and the SOLUTION.
SPECIES REDUCTION, that is, Cessation, Deletion. Not some natural catastrophe that had been predicted so many times. In fact, God was weary and very disappointed in His creation. It had not worked out as He had planned. Man had not lived up to the image He had proposed. His image. And there was the obvious OVERCROWDING. Mankind had multiplied to unsupportable numbers. Above and below, Heaven and Hell were full up. So Mankind was to be cancelled, deleted. Just like that. An experiment gone wrong! A whimper and then … Poof – All Gone!
Yet with this last consideration as consolation. A billion years, a mere blip in the cosmic timescale, and another species would appear … Perhaps. It depended on the Gods. (And who believed that? Not many.)