Chained In Darkness Alpha: Chained In Darkness

By Eugene Barnes

Chief Detective Wanda Price begins an investigation into a recently discovered body.  The newly deceased individual is added to a long list of other unexplained deaths occurring worldwide.  Her detective skills are razor-sharp as she connects a single clue to the deceased's demise.  Her investigation leads her to a storefront minister named Kristofer Masters and a Rabbi.  Interaction between the three of them finds them in the streets of New York, where unknown assassins attack Detective Price.  Professor Nyabinghi, demon-fighter extraordinaire,  shares his thoughts on the Nephilims, and he and Rev. Masters begin to recognize that their foe is not of this world.  The team must hurry to avoid a deadline that could transform the earth into an abode for demons.  Will Detective Price and Rev. Masters allow their emotional attachment to interfere with their quest?  Can the newly developed team mount an appreciable line of defense? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eugene Barnes
• Release date: Dec 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215232095

Eugene Barnes

Eugene Barnes, works in employment, economic development, community organizing, youth development, technology, and banking/housing. It became a catalyst for improving the physical and financial health of residents in Central Illinois. He’s combined over 40 years of experience in social work with community organizing beginning with the NAACP in 1965. His diverse experience from private and public caregiving institutions enriched his capacity to understand the complexities of change from within the community. Dr. Barnes has organized citizens to have a voice in shaping public policies and programs on a national basis as Board President of National People’s. He has been instrumental in forming over seventy national nonprofits. His most recent accomplishment was being invited to the White House for the signing of the historical Financial Reform Bill of 2010. In 2012, Dr. Barnes held the first Faith-Based Conference in Champaign, IL, bringing houses of worship to partner with the city government to effect change. Dr. Barnes has traveled to Israel, Palestine, and South Korea as an Ambassador for Peace and a member of the American Clergy Leadership Conference. He is the author of several books. He is married to his childhood sweetheart.

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FOREWORD

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. 2 Peter 2:4

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❖  God imprisoned the most powerful of the fallen angels of the Luciferian rebellion.

❖  They were no longer licensed to enjoy the light of heaven.

❖  Angels, heavenly hosts, are appreciably more robust and taller than ordinary mortals.

❖  God created angels and heavenly hosts.

❖  Angels, heavenly hosts, are spirits.

❖  Spirits were/ interact with humans.

❖  Spirits can and have controlled flesh.

❖  Spirits have controlled humans.

❖  There are dispensations of evil.

❖  There are evil spirits who seduce, murder, tempt incest, lie, and manipulate men and women with a propensity toward evil.

❖  There is a balm in Gilead!

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

William Shakespeare/Hamlet Act 1. Scene 5

CHAPTER 1

But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes wept with a loud voice, and many shout aloud for joy. Ezra 3:12

By a stretch of one’s imagination, you could call the building on North Clock Street a church; it just didn’t look like a church—but it looked like the house it was. There was neither a cross hanging outside nor a marquee, just a folksy wooden sign with the word Redemption.

The church-house reflected the other homes in the community built in the sixties. It had aged, showing that it had weathered every storm dashed against its lumbered exterior walls that now shone with its new paint coatings.

Neither stained-glass windows nor steeple did she possess. The new Andersen windows gave her a redemptive look underneath the canopy of a new roof job.

Inside she boasted eighteen hundred square feet, with most of the space reserved for the semi- circular sanctuary arranged to foster unity rather than an imposed hierarchy intimated by a singular podium. It suited the arrangement well because all the congregants could view and speak to each other directly. The seating suggested participation by all, and the rows were four deep. The single opening within the semi-circle allowed participants to leave quickly during a refreshment break or an emergency. The semi-circle center was a six-foot table that held an extensive Bible opened to its first page that read, The Holy Bible. Discussions began within the circle and started with the biblical inscription and ended with it. Thus, the Bible was the beginning and end of any conversation.

Against this backdrop, Rev. Kristofer Masters presided as pastor of the church called Redemption. Rev. Masters would be the first to say that he needed to lose a few well-earned pounds. His favorite black suit strained at the buttons, which could be remedied by purchasing vintage Goodwill pieces. Although he exercised regularly, his fastidious palette for soul food betrayed his best intentions.

His favorite dish was collard greens mixed with kale and seasoned with smoked turkey thighs. It was served over a bed of wild rice capped with sliced onions, tomatoes, and several dashes of Last Rites, his favorite spicy sauce.

He preferred to clean and cook his collard greens and kale with special care. The smoked turkey thigh meat boiled off the bone in seasoned chicken broth. Afterward, he removed the larger stems of the collard greens after soaking them. The collards and kale-combo were folded together and sliced. Once the turkey meat was bones-free, he added the greens to the broth and cooked until tender. He carried this detailed routine out at least once a month, with leftovers lasting several days, and to Rev. Masters, representing a taste of heaven before the Second Coming.

According to his estimate, he stood five feet ten inches. He weighed two hundred pounds, despite medical affirmation to the contrary. His skin was a dark coffee that showed off thirty-one pearlies, the lone one having been sacrificed to a dentist’s whim of removal over his balking at paying for its replacement. A neatly trimmed fine white beard covered his face's lower portion while his shaved pate glowed atop the ears. Rimless glasses were his latest addition to a pampered look that several female kinds found quite striking. Yet, he perceived several female parishioners' phone calls for pastoral counseling to lack sincerity.

Redemption Church had its proverbial membership of twenty-five percent. Every pastor knows that regardless of the church's roles, only one- quarter of the congregation is faithful. This is demonstrated by the example of Jesus and His inner circle of three. Sunday’s numbers attested to those who showed up for service. At the same time, Wednesday night bible study reflected dedicated church membership, not except those who came out for Easter, Mother’s Day, and Christmas. These fashion-show services were appalling to the Rev., who usually assigned one of his charges to officiate, despite the complaints from those who cited that these services required the attention and sobriety of one skilled in homiletics. The right reverend Kristofer Masters was undaunted for his rendition of what-sayeth-the-Lord was not served these days, mainly because he had no hoop for the people to get the scoop.

He sought to have the church's doors opened daily so those truly deserving of God’s grace could access the Capporeth, heaven's mercy seat. Seven days a week, he unlocked the doors. Beginning with an initial prayer in the inner sanctum, he cleansed himself of the world’s latest satanic assaults. He pleaded with Jehovah to continue to shed his groveled portion of courage and patience upon his wretched frame and this branch of Zion.

CHAPTER 2

Hear O Israel, The LORD our God is one LORD. Deuteronomy 6:4

Praise the Lord was a salutary response for the faithful whenever encountering one another—as was greet each other with a holy kiss. This was a commandment espoused by Rabbi Saul, or the Apostle Paul, as the church later called him. The faithful distinguished their religiosity from the unsaved and those not as saved as others. More often than not, the salute was sincere and honest, overworked and traditionalized through centuries of use. As he arrived at Wednesday night bible-study and emerged from his nineteen-eight Ford Taurus, several Praise the Lords greeted the Pastor.

A to God be the glory purred from his lips as he shook hands and hugged his way to the Sanctuary doors. Deacon Daryl Honeydripper placed his meaty hands on the door as he inserted his key into the lock. He pushed it open for his beloved pastor. Pastor Masters looked back at Deacon Daryl Honeydripper. They beamed a look of approval to show his undying admiration and love for so faithful a black angel of a man as they entered the sanctum together.

Deacon Honeydripper came to Redemption Church several months after the Pastor had answered the Call and opened the church's doors. Back in the day, Daryl Honeydripper had been a bagman for the St. Louis mob and was given a floater out of the same city by the police chief. They did this in concert with the criminal head of St. Louis to spare the deacon a prison term for shooting a wooer of his wife in the nose with a flat-nosed thirty-eight bullet. Deac had

explained all this to Pastor before his ordination as First Deacon of Redemption Church. Their kinship and friendship were legendary in the community, some even thinking that the deacon was Pastor’s father.

As Pastor disappeared into his nine-by-twelve offices, Deacon Honeydripper prepared bible study by tidying up the sanctuary and arranging the chairs with the aid of the early faithful few. In attendance were Evangelist Nora Thompson, Lula Mae Honeydripper, deacons Harry Wilson, Doug Whitehead, George Sugarman McKnight, and several other members of the Wednesday session. As the Pastor pressed his way to enter the circle, the body came to order. All mystically chorused into singing Blessed Assurance, after which Deacon Honeydripper sought the Lawd.

In his rich bass voice, Deacon Honeydripper, a voice reminiscent of some of the late actor William Marshall, bellowed. Lawd, I know that we’s not worthy to stand before your presence, but we come upon the finished work done at Calvary, asking yo’ blessing for this branch of Zion. We’s come humbly, as we knows how to ask You to forgive us for our sins of omission and commission. We thought that if we did the dos and didn’t do the don’ts, we would be all right, but we discovered we had still failed you. We ask You to forgive us and cleanse us from mother earth’s smear. These mud suits You placed us in have caused us to rebel against heaven and commit high treason, but through the blood of Jesus, it has washed us cleaner than the driven snow.

Deacon Honeydripper continued to seek the Lawd for the next ten minutes, and each assembled Soul took his turn at the throne of grace to reveal the Lawd further.

Finally, Pastor stood and asked if he could get an amen. Several affirmatives arose when Pastor finally sought the Lawd, as he had earlier been peeked at and revealed. After fully disclosing the Lawd’s whereabouts amid the assembled in Redemption, Pastor queried if all had their weapons, their Bible. They could then turn to the Book of Isaiah in the fourteenth chapter. Ye shall find written these few words:

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How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights