Mishael's quarters, angel garrison in Petra.
Keeping a solicitous watch over Mish, the healing angel completed his examination of my son’s condition. “Mishka will recover fully as long as we let him have complete rest,” Raphael informed us. For the past hour, he had been examining the child for any hidden and internal physical injuries the latter might have sustained at the Devil’s citadel.
Turning to the child, he added: “No more excitement for you, Little One. I don’t want to see you again for a while.”
The elder crossed round to my back. I felt the measured movements of his hands in my wings. Very carefully his fingers wheedled something out that had been lodged between the plush linings. He handled an eight-inch shard in his palm, looking inquiringly at me.
“I was cosseting the child from the downpour of splintering glass at Lucifer’s citadel,” I explained. “I haven’t had the time to see to the matter.”
“Considering the size and weight of this shard, just one of these might have impaled or maimed the child if your wings hadn’t absorbed them,” Raphael stated. “I should take a look at you, Michael. Come outside and lie down on the couch for me. We should take care of the matter now.”
I complied, leaving my child to rest quietly on his own.
 |
| "No more excitement for you, Little One." |
The child had been napping for several hours. At supper time, Gabriel and I showed up in his room to awaken him.
“I’m not really hungry,” he said, watching Gabriel put his tray down on the nightstand.
Gabriel nodded. “Drink your Chamomile tea, at least. It’s courtesy of Shelumiel. We can heat up your plate for you when you’re ready to have something to eat. Let me know: I’ll be at the mess hall.”
I checked on my son. He was no longer feverish. Supposing that he might want to be alone with his own thoughts, I prepared to leave after Gabriel.
“Don’t go,” he whispered in his rare childlike self that would sometimes manifest when some external stimulus resonated with his inner insecurity. “Please. Sit up with me?”
I settled into his bed beside him. He nuzzled his head against my arm as he often liked to do. I lifted it and wound it around his shoulders. Then, I gave him a big cuddle.
He appeared rattled but in a talkative mood.
“You know by now that you can talk about anything with me, don’t you?” I began.
He looked up at me: “I owe Gabriel an apology. I knew what he said about Lucifer had made sense . . . but I had to do what I wanted to do without consideration for his feelings . . . or respect for his seniority. All I ever do is give him grief.”
“Gabriel’s always had your best interest at heart,” I replied. “He doesn’t hold anything against you for he knows in your own heart of hearts, your loyalty’s unquestionable. He knows you acted on your natural inclination to see the good in everyone and everything, even in Lucifer.
“Let me tell you something about Gabriel: he’s had his heart broken once too often by Lucifer in the past. Just when he thought Lucifer had given him a glimmer of hope that he could change, he, Lucifer, would commit another act of rebellion to disillusion him all over again; he’d realize afterward that Lucifer’s transgression was greater than the one before. Gabriel’s now a lot wiser for it. He simply doesn’t want you to go through the same heartache Lucifer put him through.”
“He’s being protective; I know,” he said. “Yes, of you and your sibling,” I stated. “He’s protective of all the kindred.”
“I don’t see enough of the good that’s in Gabriel,” he confessed. “Not as much as I ought to.”
“I don’t believe that’s true at all,” I dissented.
“No, at the very least I ought to pay him the deference he deserves,” he explained. “He’s been nothing but perfect to me . . . the perfect leader and the perfect brother. I don’t deserve a friend like him.”
“Hush,” I scolded tenderly. “Gabriel would beg to differ. He’s said on several occasions: he can’t imagine our world without your being in it; so rest assured, you’ve made a positive . . . and lasting . . . impression on Riel. And you continue to.”
“There’s something very wrong with me, Dad.”
I gave him an even bigger cuddle than the first one. “Don’t do this, son, don’t sell yourself short. You’re all right. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all. You made some mistakes. But they were not terrible mistakes. Not even terribly big mistakes. The angelic sanctum remains a sanctum. It’s not broken. None of us are broken. It’s been a learning curve for you: you live, you err and you learn. Tell me now: have you learned from your mistakes? Are you learning from them?”
He nodded: “I’ve had to. I want to: I want to be a better person. I want to be perfect again, as I was perfectly created.”
“And that’s all that any of us asks of you. More important, it’s what pleases Ehyeh.”
“Okay.”
“Is this the only thing that’s on your mind, son: Gabriel?”
He lowered his head: “It’s entirely my fault. I’m always reckless and disobedient. I’m to blame for everything that’s happened to me in the last twenty-four hours. I’ve a lot of growing up to do.”
“Now you’re being too hard on yourself again,” I chided once more. “Surely you have mischaracterized yourself. You’re not always reckless; for if you were reckless, it would beg the question why Gabriel and I could have sent you out in the field, fully knowing your immaturity would breach, not just your own security, but also that of others around you. This is not an area which we take lightly.
“It’s my estimation that you’re trusting. Being trusting is not necessarily a negative quality, but it does stem from your inexperience and lack of knowledge. And we’ve already talked about turning that into an opportunity to lean on the Lord for wisdom and guidance to avoid diving headlong into a life-threatening maelstrom.
“I concede that you once were disobedient, but you’ve come a long way from being that individual six months ago. This time around, it was your desire to be independent, to be free of your fear of the Enemy, that had thrust you into a parlous situation with Lucifer. The desire to be independent’s not a negative trait, either, as long as you have the maturity of mind to make correct choices. Once again, this comes with knowledge and experience, which you’ll gain from exposure.
“Gabriel and I have discussed this on several occasions and we both agree that it’s time we give you the freedom to have this exposure. But when you’re out in the world, always remember the Apostle Paul’s advice: ‘Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, and understand what the will of the Lord is.’ How then can you know the will of the Lord?”
“By arming myself with His Word,” he replied, “and by asking Him and waiting on Him.”
I nodded: “Always remember to let the Lord’s will be your guide and His Word your authority. In this way, you may minimize the dangers that are liable to land you in a stressful environment.
“Now, as for taking the blame for everything that’s happened to you – indeed, we must take ownership of our sin nature and account for the choices we make. We’d be dishonest to let Lucifer be accounted for the good and evil of every one of our decisions. That said, Lucifer did play a substantial role in engineering your encounters with him and Abaddon, as far back as two years ago; as we’ve pointed out to you, these encounters were an elaborate scheme he had manufactured to bring about your destruction in order to rupture the Lord’s angels’ very existence.”
“Is he filled with that much contempt for us?” he asked. He left my bosom to lie down across my knee.
“He is,” I nodded.
“Am I crazy, Mika?” he asked. “Have I lost my mind? I don’t trust myself to do the right thing anymore. Maybe those Medics had been right all along: maybe there is something wrong with my brain.”
“You’re not crazy and you haven’t lost your mind,” I assured him. “If it were so, I would tell you. You know I’d never deceive you. And the Medics were employing hyperbole to provoke you into a compliance with their rules.
“No, beloved, there’s nothing wrong with your brain. You’ve only been overwhelmed by Lucifer, that’s all. You hadn’t quite expected he could have such an influence on your mind and emotions. You had felt helpless before him. In your helplessness, you had felt that everything was spinning out of control. It’s easy to think you’re losing your mind when you think you’ve lost all control of your circumstances, your abilities and your foes.”
He nodded. “I think that’s exactly it. I felt at a loss to handle Lucifer’s madness and cunning both at the same time.”
I nodded: “Scripture has described him as craftier than any other creature. Life’s an obstacle course, Little One: along the way, the Enemy will lob his roadblocks at you to waylay you or throw you off course, but if ever you have any concerns about something, anything at all, commit it to the Lord. The Lord loves you; He will give you understanding, strength and peace of mind to handle the challenges in your life. The Lord is good; He has your life in the palm of His hand. His plans for you are for your good. I know that you love the Lord with all your heart and mind and soul. The Lord’s plans for those who love and honour Him are for their good. He has said so Himself: ‘I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’”
“I’ve always been enamoured of that particular promise,” he maintained. “Lucifer warned that it wasn’t over for me and my kindred. He intends to carry out more of his violence on my kindred and me, isn’t he, and he’s not alluding to tossing us life’s metaphorical roadblocks either? He means to exact physical revenge on us personally.”
I scoffed at the thought of the Devil’s unbridled audacity: “It’s never over for Satan. Don’t worry about what’s out of your control, son. It’s in the Lord’s control. Lucifer will have to ask the Lord permission to tempt or try you further; even if the Lord grants His permission, He will protect you and your brothers as He always does. All of you have the Lord’s seal of protection. So have no fear of Lucifer.”
“I used to think I feared him,” he admitted, “even despised him, but now I think I feel sorry for him more than anything else. He seemed so pathetic, so wretched. It’s strange, but there were times when I had truly pitied him back there. What’s wrong with me?”
I listened to him silently.
“Was it wrong of me to want to believe him?” he asked. “Have I been unfaithful and disloyal to the Lord because of my feelings?”
I shook my head: “I wouldn’t say that. The Lord knows with pinpoint accuracy what’s in your heart. However, your sympathy for Lucifer is misplaced, to be sure. We’ve already said so: the Devil is subtle and beguiling. He beguiled you; he knew you had needed his apology to put behind you the trauma of being blinded, and he led you to believe he sincerely desired to compensate you for harming you. And this tactic has been his stock in trade down through the centuries: ascertaining an individual’s needs and desires and, then, capitalizing on them for his own ends, one of which is the individual’s submission to him and worship of him.
“If you recall, he was the one that had beguiled the first woman, Eve, capitalizing on his understanding of human desires – the lust of the eyes, the desire of the flesh and the pride of life – in order to seduce her to disobey God. This led to the fall of mankind into sin. After that he continued to beguile and seduce the human race by convincing their daughters to interbreed with his angels. Their offspring, the Nephilim, were to contaminate the human gene pool; and you know what had to happen as a result, don’t you?”
“Yes, the Lord had to wipe out their race with a global flood,” my child replied.
“Indeed,” I concurred, “because mankind’s wickedness was over all the face of the earth. The exception was Noah, who was described as perfect in his generations.”
“Perfect,” he asked, “as in his gene pool was unblemished by the Fallen Ones, and not that he was without sin?”
I nodded while explaining: “Everyone that’s descended from Adam is born with a sin nature. It would make God a liar to maintain that Noah was without sin. ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Nevertheless, Noah walked uprightly in the Lord.
“Well, now, in modern times, the father of lies is still seducing men and women, this time, feeding their desire for immortality with fanciful ideas that they’re all little gods. Satan’s deluding the human race with the promise that they’re able to attain immortality by tapping into their inner divinity through practising the occult arts of Transcendental Meditation and yoga, as well as through astral projection and channelling.
“In more recent times, Lucifer’s been deceiving the most vulnerable among the human race, the impressionable youth, with the very enticing new wave of such popular culture as vampirism and witchcraft, convincing them via literature and movies to desire eternal youth and immortality, which they mistakenly equate with divinity. All of this detracts from the truth of the Lord’s commandments – that these things are an abomination to the Lord.”
“Because they are examples of the spirit of Antichrist that’s already in the world,” he added. “Those who allow themselves to be infused by this deceptive culture are easily deceived by the doctrines of demons and seducing spirits.”
I nodded: “It’s imperative that parents vet the kinds of books and films they allow their children to read or watch. The fixation of the youth with the occult in popular culture, such as in movies and books, is a dangerous one which lures unsuspecting minds to the hidden things of Satan and opens up a portal for the Devil to gain a foothold in their lives. You never want to give the Devil as much as a toehold in your life; for once he’s in, his influence festers like a cancer. Slowly but surely, this influence will begin to destroy your mind, your body and your spirit. So, while the Devil’s promise of immortality is enticing, the reality is it leads to destruction and the Lake of Fire, which is the final destiny.”
“That’s because Lucifer’s way is at odds with the Lord’s way to immortality,” Mish deduced. “Ironically, in their pursuit of youth and immortality, the human beings have forgotten that they’re immortal; during creation, God gave man a spirit that would never die. The human body may decay but man will be raised with a spiritual body that lives on for eternity after physical death.”
“That’s correct,” I nodded. “Man’s pursuit of immortality is, paradoxically, a superfluous one. The crux of man’s concern while he’s on earth is not pursuing immortality but the question of where his spiritual body will live on in eternity: will he be in hell with the Devil and his minions, or in heaven with God the Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ?”
My child agreed: “There’s only one way to heaven and this way is the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s written in the Word of God that it is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, that man’s able to spend eternity with the Heavenly Father.”
I continued: “Having an immortal spirit doesn’t make man divine and it’s a lie to believe that it makes him God or even a god. This lie is as old as the promise the Devil made to Eve in the Garden – that she would be as God, if she ate from the forbidden tree.”
Mish nodded: “Because there is only One that is divine and this is God. And there is only one God. But the one God is in the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
I added: “God has not given humans the power to be gods, but to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He has given them power to be the sons of God.”
“Just as you are a son of God,” he stated.
“As are you,” I assured him. “You, too, are Bene Ha Elohim, a son of the living God.”
“Am I?” he asked. “He said I was like the Nephilim – a half-breed.”
I shook my head. I made eye contact with him: “Don’t believe his lie. You’re not the result of the sinful union between a human and a fallen angel. Do not allow Lucifer to vilify or nullify your identity as a son of the living God. That’s Lucifer’s way of distorting or negating the truth of your identity to instil shame and self-doubt in you, which makes you start to feel unworthy, bitter and discontented. Sow discontentment, reap unbelief and sin. But if you sow praise and gratitude, you will reap perfect love and faith. Remember this.”
“What about the creature with the hooves for feet?” he asked. “Did he exist? Did I imagine him? The demon I thought I had shot at the firing range. Or did I imagine that, too?”
I was silent for a while. He looked up at me. “Mika, had I lost my mind that time? Every time I made eye contact with a brother, after that night, I couldn’t help thinking what a flake he thought I was.”
“No one thought that, son,” I assured him. “That was definitely in your imagination. As for the hoofed being: do you really want to hear the truth?”
“After everything I’ve been through with Lucifer, the truth is all I want to hear,” he replied.
I nodded. “In that case, here’s what I believe to be true. In the matter of the hoofed creature you thought you had shot, I’d have to take Raphael’s point of view. I’d have to accept his original assessment.”
“What’s led you to draw this conclusion?” he asked.
“The fact that Raphael receives special knowledge from the Lord,” I informed him. “It’s an element of his unique powers to heal – a quintessential element of his powers to heal, as a matter fact. These powers come with revelation from the Lord as far as making judgments on symptoms and treatments. I believe Raphael when he had ascertained that you had fallen asleep. You were somnambulant and had a bad dream.”
“So, then, I had taken a dose of diazepam and done a dangerous thing by falling asleep at the pool,” he suggested. “I was so sure I was in control that evening.”
“Actually, you had fallen asleep in the locker room,” I told him. “You were fully clothed when the angel, Oreniel, found you. Yes, it was dangerous that you had fallen asleep but, for the grace of God, it could’ve been at the pool and you might’ve drowned.”
“So you confiscated my prescription diazepam,” he surmised. “I’d been wondering what became of it.”
I nodded. “You no longer had need of it and I didn’t want you to develop a dependence on it. No one ever is in control while using drugs. Asahel’s assistant meant well prescribing the anodyne to manage your anxiety but it was prescribed as a palliative only. Now I want you to depend on the Lord for your emotional healing. Will you do this?”
He nodded: “I will, Dad. You have my word. So, Lucifer hadn’t lied in this instance. He wasn’t involved. It was my sleepwalking all along and I had imagined it all. I wanted Lucifer to confess that he had also been responsible for that happening to me. I wanted him to admit that he had been the hoofed terrorist.”
“No, son, Lucifer wasn’t involved and hadn’t lied – not in this instance,” I replied.
“I thought I had my sleepwalking all under control,” he stated. “Why do you suppose I had that nightmare of the hoofed creature?”
I shifted a bit on his bed, crossing my ankles: “I’m no dream interpreter, Little One. What I believe is this: you had wanted Lucifer’s apology for causing you so much grief that he appeared as the hoofed creature in your subconscious mind. You had needed his apology for closure and you projected that in your nightmare.”
“Instead of apologizing,” he continued for me, “he issued his napalm threat. I suppose that, even in my subconscious state of mind, I doubted he would make the apology. And, so, my doubt was projected as the bomb threat the hoofed creature further made toward me and those I loved.”
“Consequently, you tried to kill him in self-defense. You shot him in your nightmare, which you were reprising in your somnambulism,” I added.
“Do you believe I can ever be healed of my somnambulism?” he whispered.
I nodded: “I believe the Lord will heal you if He so wills; I do not believe any drug can heal you, however.”
He nodded and lifted himself up from my lap. “I’m suddenly feeling very hungry,” he said.
“Let me heat that up for you,” I offered, reaching for his dinner plate on the nightstand.
He stopped me: “Don’t trouble yourself, Dad. I’ll eat it as it is.”
He ploughed ravenously into his pie.
I asked how he found it.
“Well, I looked in the plate and there it was,” he replied between mouthfuls.
“What?”
He laughed: “That was a joke. You asked how I found the pie.”
I nodded but felt aghast.
Masticating civilly, he narrowed his eyes at me. “It’s good, Dad,” he said. “That’s how I find the pie. But, then again, everything is good when you’re this hungry. Pardon my manners: would you like a taste?”
I got up. “Thank you, son, but no.”
I left him to finish his supper while I headed for the pianoforte. I started to hit the keys. Gradually I was coaxing out of the keys the notes of a segment of Handel’s Messiah.
Wiping his mouth, Mish joined me at the grand piano. Together, we rendered our version of his favourite symphony, the Canon in D. After that, we performed our interpretation of the angels’ perennial favourite, Holy, Holy, Holy. We sang the words of the hymn as well.
“Why wasn’t I ever told that I had your DNA?” my son asked at the end of our rendition. He stared down at his fingers.
“I would’ve told you when the time came,” I replied, “when you were able to understand it.”
He nodded: “And Ariel? Whose angelic DNA does Ari have?”
“Gabriel’s DNA,” I answered.
“Mm,” he whispered. “Does he know?”
I nodded: “Gabriel’s already had a discussion with him about it.”
He turned toward me: “Does Ari know about me?”
I shook my head.
My son gripped my wrist and held my palm beside his. He compared palms. “I knew,” he stated, “somehow I’ve always known.”
I smiled: “It appeared that Ariel had had the same reaction to revelation of the source of his angelic DNA.”
“Do you mean that he’d always known about Gabriel and him?” the child asked.
I nodded: “Ariel maintained he’d always had the inkling he shared a familial bond with Gabriel.”
“And what of our family name . . . what of the name, Benrubi?” the child asked again.
I smiled: “That’s on the distaff side of your family . . . of the tribe of Reuben.”
“I’m not even going to try to understand this,” he whispered.
I smiled again: “There’s no necessity for it for, ‘the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us’.”
The child smiled while he gave me back my hand. He gave my cheek a gentle kiss.
“Well, Dad,” he stated, “you’re well-versed in the diverse genres. You didn’t even need music sheets.”
I chuckled: “Well, I’ve had the benefit of more than six thousand years’ worth of practice . . . of the world’s rich treasure trove of hymns, symphonies and concertos.”
“Not to mention languages,” he added. “Besides Hebrew and our language, the angels’ vernacular, you’re also fluent in all the major languages commonly spoken by the inhabitants on earth.”
“Well,” I nodded, “all the Lord’s angels are polyglot; you’d be just as fluent if, like me, you’ve had more than six millennia to practise speaking the variety of dialects and languages that exist.”
The child continued: “It’s hard to believe you’re over six thousand years old, Dad. You or Gabriel. You hardly look a day older than twenty-seven.”
“Twenty-seven?” I said. “Hmm.”
“What?”
I smiled. “I’ve been told I looked thirty.”
“General ben Israel looks like he’s in his mid-thirties,” he opined. “Was that a matter of preference?”
I nodded: “A combination of preference and practicality, Little One. I wanted to be believable as a man. As a soldier and General, I wanted the agility and strength of youth but also the appearance of wisdom that comes with adulthood. The mid-thirties to early forties is an earth man’s zenith.”
Mish became serious. “‘Little One’– I’ve asked you politely to stop addressing me with that term. When will you? That and ‘fledgling’ and ‘child’. I happen to have a name.”
“All right,” I told him. “Since you feel so strongly about it, I will stop when you turn four in a couple of months. However, for the sake of preserving filial affection I will retain ‘child’ and ‘son’.”
The underling nodded: “Okay. That’s fair. Um . . . thank you. Speaking of names: it seems that the Fallen Ones have coined a new nomenclature to classify my brothers and me – ‘humangels’.” He snickered sarcastically: “I’ve heard both Abaddon and Lucifer employ this name for us. What’s their story?”
He returned to his bed. I made myself comfortable on his armchair.
“They coined it to berate your race,” I replied, smiling dryly. “The Lord’s hosts took a vote a long time ago to name your race ‘Halflings’. From its inception, Lucifer had been vocally and vociferously opposed to the name. That was before he lost his access to heaven. There was no rationale for the slur. Lucifer opposes for the sake of stirring up ill feelings. From that first moment every one of the Lord’s hosts had been developing a sense of natural affection toward your race and Lucifer’s all-consuming hatred and envy toward this development had been unfolding and intensifying before our very eyes. And he’d shamelessly mouth off his disdain to Yah and to us. ‘Halfling’: I personally think it’s an affectionate term owing to the standard morphological application of this particular suffix.
“Beloved, you said earlier you had felt sorry for Lucifer. You don’t have to, for that’s what he wants you to feel. Then, he takes advantage of your sympathy to deceive you and win your vote, tempting you to turn against the Lord. Do not be deceived like the angels that fell with him.”
“Did you really love him once?” he asked. “I heard what you said, just before I was overcome by sleep.”
I nodded. “Yes, I did, a long, long time ago, before he sinned and rebelled. I loved all the angels of the Lord, for they were all my brothers. But Lucifer led a third of them in rebellion toward the Lord, and led them all to perdition. A third of the heavenly hosts are now destined for the Lake of Fire, which was created for the Devil. You must understand that this has been exceedingly difficult for the rest of the Lord’s angels to bear. And for me, of course . . . for the angels that have sinned are my brothers, too. Lucifer’s rebellion has caused such a rift between them and us, the Lord’s holy angels, that, after all this time, we’re still grieving.”
“He must be fearful of being punished in hell forever,” he suggested.
I concurred: “He’s terrified. For he knows hell is real. Why else is he trying so hard to lead others there? Why else did he traffic in violence to ensure a third of the hosts of heaven would follow him there?”
“That’s so sad,” he commented.
“Indeed.”
“There’s a famous painting,” he recalled, “that portrays the lost in the presence of the Lord at the Great White Throne judgment. The name of the artist slips my mind. Anyway, the artist had rendered several of the lost vomiting on the spot, so consumed were they by their fear of an eternity in hell.”
“Surely the Lake of Fire is a terrifying place to spend eternity,” I opined, “for both unsaved man and fallen angel. Eternity’s a very long time to be without every good thing that’s from God: light and love, comfort and contentment. Beauty . . . creativity . . . peace and joy . . . and justice.”
Mish’s eyes teared and smized at the same time. He admitted: “I was thrown for a loop at Lucifer’s unveiling. He wasn’t that dragon that had kidnapped me or the hooded entity that had me blinded – in fact, he was like a beautiful cherub, truly but inconceivably angelic. Well, you gazed on him in that form, too. You were there. He told me, at his citadel, that I was gazing on him in his true form, the form he was originally created by the Lord. Is that true?”
I nodded once more. “What you had beheld was his manifested state, one of many he’s capable of imitating. It is indeed true that his form was perfect when the Lord created him. He was the most beautiful covering cherub. But how much more tragic is his fall, then. He was like the morning sun. His title was just that, ‘Son of the Morning’, and he was cherubic, and his glorified body shone like the radiance of the morning sun. Do you remember your study of prophecy? Do you remember what the nations would ask when they finally saw the Devil?”
Mish nodded. He quoted from memory, “Everyone will stare at you and ask: ‘Can this be the one who shook the earth and the kingdoms of the world? Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a wilderness? Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?’
“From the prophet Isaiah. Did I thank you for ordering me to restudy the book of Isaiah? I was reminded of Lucifer’s prophetic end, and it kept me from being completely swayed by his lie – the lie that he could change.”
“Not I,” I told him, “but the Lord. It was the Lord who had given His directive that you studied and memorized Isaiah’s book. To stand in the evil day, you must remember to put on the full armour of God, and this includes the Word of God. The Lord knew you were going to need His protection from Lucifer. Now, Mish, in light of this why do you think the Lord had wanted you to revise Isaiah?”
He shrugged slightly.
“Go on, take a stab at the answer,” I persuaded him.
He kneaded his forehead in puzzlement, saying: “You just stated for my protection.”
“Yes, but how and why is the Word able to protect?”
He cocked his head sideways, vexing: “I should know this; why do I feel this is a trick question?”
“Not a trick question: think now, in regard to the imagery of the armour of God, what’s the Word of God been likened to?”
He blinked several times, then replied: “A sword.”
I nodded: “Yes, and what’s a sword able to do?”
“Pierce, cut,” he sighed self-consciously. “I’m sorry – I’m a dunce.”
“No, no,” I smiled, “you’re doing well, son. Have confidence in yourself. And, yes, a sword does that, as you said: pierce and cut. But the Word of God is more than that. It’s called the sword of the Spirit and it’s been described as a double-edged sword; that is to say its sharpness rests in its ability to search out evil to destroy it. But why is this significant? Who are the evil whose intentions we’re able to peer searchingly with the Word of God in order to destroy them?”
“The Enemy,” he replied, with confidence this time. “All our enemies: the Evil Ones.”
“Excellent,” I averred, “for God’s Word says: ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against . . .’”
“‘Against wickedness in high places’,” he interjected, “such as the principalities and powers . . . and the rulers of darkness of this age, this world.”
“Good man,” I smiled. “And, so, it is Scripture we use to destroy our enemies. The wicked ones will flee every time you use the Word to contend with them.”
“Just as Messiah did when He was tempted in the wilderness by Lucifer,” he inserted. “Messiah used Scripture each time to rebut every one of Lucifer’s temptations.”
“Exactly,” I stated emphatically, “and just as you had also used the Word of God, from Isaiah, to contend against the wiles and deception of Lucifer. You were able to peer into his motives and intentions and correlate those with Isaiah’s prophecy to conclude that he was attempting to deceive you, to turn you against Messiah.”
He smiled: “I get it. And humans are admonished to put on the whole armour of God: the belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness; and the gospel of peace, as well as the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation; and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
“Absolutely,” I stated, proud of my son.
He said next: “God is certainly worthy of all praise and glory. Concerning Isaiah’s prophecy now: am I to understand that the nations of the earth would someday gaze upon the Devil and find it incredulous that a man of such beauty could cause so much ugliness in the world?”
“Perhaps,” I replied, “or perhaps it would be upon his wretchedness they would cast their gaze, and wonder at him. Wretched because by this time Lucifer would’ve been defeated at Armageddon by the Lord Jesus; he would be brought before the nations and he would be helpless in chains and fetters.
“Nevertheless, when the Lord begins to reveal to all the nations the suffering Lucifer has caused, such as the idolatry and child sacrifices of the occultists and Satanists; all the wars and strife from the time of the Hebrews’ journey to the Promised Land to the coming war of Armageddon; all the personal suffering that ranges from substance addiction and immorality, to poverty and discrimination; all the deaths from famine, murder, suicide, eugenics and diseases, and from the genocide programmes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot; when these are revealed to be Lucifer’s schemes, directly or indirectly, I doubt if many shall maintain their belief that he is wretched or beautiful, but shall see him truly for what he is – pure evil.”
“I saw that intense evil in him today,” my child recalled. “It was an exercise in futility, visiting him. In the end, I accomplished nothing. I couldn’t even prove I was the warrior you’d been training me to be. The only thing my encounter proved was that Lucifer was manipulative, deceptive and seductive. Not to mention untrustworthy.”
I assured him: “I wouldn’t be too sure that was all you had managed to achieve today. Lucifer desires your worship, and you resisted that. He tempted you, and you overcame him. That is a greater accomplishment than had you beaten him in a hand to hand combat. That is a greater victory than winning in an armed confrontation with him. The Lord doesn’t measure our greatness as His warriors by the number of enemies we vanquish, but by our faithfulness to Him and our subservience to His Lordship. By this account, you are a great warrior – for time and again, you’ve been tried and tested by the Lord’s greatest Foe. And time and again, you’ve proven your faithfulness and obedience to the Lord our God.”
“My relationship with God,” he said unexpectedly.
“Hmm?”
“You asked me about a week ago what I thought my worth as an individual was dependent on,” he explained. “This is my answer, on my relationship with God. I’m worthy by the simple fact of being created to have a relationship with Him as my Lord. My worth is not measured by what I do but who I am in relation to God. And, by the same token, a human’s worth is dependent on his identity in Christ Jesus as evidenced by his faithfulness and obedience to His Lordship.”
“Good answer and absolutely correct,” I commended. “It’s the faithful that will be counted worthy as well to inherit God’s Kingdom. The wayward seminarians and Bible scholars of the last millennium used to mislead the world with their false doctrine of Universalism. They duplicitously taught that, in the end, everyone would be allowed to enter the Kingdom of God, because they said it was written that ‘Jesus Christ died for sins once and for all’. They ignored the truism of personal faith and repentance in a Saviour who took their place of judgment for their sins. They forgot that it was also written, ‘For without faith it is impossible to please God’. This faith is in the Lord’s atoning death on the cross, which is everyone’s personal responsibility to accept or reject. Thus, all will not enter the Lord’s Kingdom: for God must fill His Kingdom with those who have personally accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, because narrow is the way that leads to life.
“There’s another important lesson to be garnered from your experience with Satan today – a lesson that should augur favourably for everyone’s eternal destiny, in particular, for the human race and its young people. We’re deceived if we believe that having a relationship with Satan and surrendering ourselves to Satan as our lord is going to enrich our lives. No angel, evil or holy, should be sought out for divination or communication. Absolutely no angel should be worshiped. Only the Lord Jesus is to be worshiped.
“Vampirism, lycanthropy, witchcraft, Satanism, necromancy, geomancy, New Age and neo-pagan spirituality: these all are Luciferian constructs that overtly or covertly entrench their aficionados in the worship of the Devil. There’s nothing of benefit to be gained from worshipping Satan, for there’s no love in him. As you and I have witnessed, just as I teleported us out of his ruinous castle, there’s only hate in him. The Devil desires the worship of the human race, for that’s his sole passion, but he will rule his devotees with his hate-filled nature, causing ruin to families and devastation to every individual soul. He’s evil, and we should be very wary of him, but the Lord Jesus is greater than Satan and we have victory over Satan in our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Yes, the awareness of the Devil’s tactics should be our warning to stay away from him, but with Christ as our Commander-in-Chief, we can live without fear of our enemy.”
“It’s hard to wrap my head round the idea that you could be given everything, and throw it all away,” Mish stated.
“Pride can do this to you. Pride and sin,” I said.
“Why were you never tempted to follow Lucifer?” he asked. “He was the brother you had to have loved dearly. And you don’t easily outgrow that kind of brotherly love.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t easy to get over my love for him, for I did love him with all of my heart. He broke my heart. But the Lord’s been healing me, healing us all. Just as He will heal you of every painful memory of what Lucifer has done to you as well. One day at a time. Give Him a chance, Little One. You’ll see that the Lord’s goodness is boundless. This was why I could never have sinned against the Lord for I loved the Lord more than I did Lucifer. Much more.”
His lips curled: “Because He first loved you.”
I nodded, reciprocating his smile: “Yes, because He first loved me.”
“Uh . . . hem; knock, knock,” someone cried out all at once.
Mish and I turned toward the doorway.
“Say, now, aren’t you a welcome sight,” I commented.
Our ofttimes-visitor’s long platinum blond hair was, this evening, knotted into braids and these were loosely interwoven with golden threads. His stylish crown braids identified him with Gabriel’s company. His dimpled ready smile complimented his striking facial features, which were further accentuated by the elegant gold studs on each of his ear lobes. Broad shoulders arching, he carefully leaned his satchel and swords against the lectern.
His rapier began to tilt. Mish attempted to muzzle his urge to chuckle as the rapier slipped from the lectern in what seemed like a slow-motion replay of an unauthorised biopic of his life.
The gallant warrior scowled before trying again: this time the rapier did as told.
“That’s better,” he whispered.
Henceforth straightening up, he stepped onto the threshold. He regarded us with an unobtrusive temperament while he metamorphosed into his human form.
“Is it getting crowded in here,” he opined in a jocular mood.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Mish smiled back, propping up on his elbows. “Hey, Ari.”
“Hey,” Ariel greeted, approaching us. He acknowledged me with a nod.
I rose and greeted my oldest underling in the usual manner. I, then, asked him about the saints in Kazakhstan.
“Good, very good,” he replied. “I’ve been able to apply my multilingual skills in my conversations with them. Our tasks are proceeding according to schedule: a fourth group of refugees shall be evacuated to Petra tomorrow. They’re the last of the Lord’s remnants to be evacuated.”
I congratulated him: “This is an excellent report. Gabriel will be very proud of you. As am I.”
“Thank you, Mika,” he smiled. “The Lord’s greatly to be praised and honoured.”
He approached the bed and sat down beside Mish: “I heard all about your daring visit with Lucifer. Gabriel’s granted me overnight relief to come back and see you. In fact, he had insisted on it. You OK? Let me look at you.”
The older sibling lightly clasped my child’s face with his palms. His eyes, a shining dark teal this evening, were roving all about his brother’s face. Mish blushed brightly. Satisfied with the body of evidence before him, Ariel said: “You look quite well. More upbeat than I had expected, under the circumstances. That’s a relief.”
He briefly stroked his sibling’s cheeks. Afterward, he picked off a loose strand of the younger boy’s hair that had made his shoulder its final resting place.
“I can return to Kazakhstan with peace of mind now,” he added. “You are doing well, aren’t you?”
His brother nodded. “I’m a lot better now,” Mish replied, watching the discarded piece of his hair float onto the floor. “I made a mistake; I thought I could handle him, handle Lucifer. But I was wrong.”
“Well, I also heard that you had learned some vital lessons while you were there,” the older brother stated in a softhearted tone, “so I’m sure it wasn’t altogether a lost cause. From now on, you know at least what to expect and you can be prepared for any surprises.”
The younger Benrubi nodded.
Ariel reached behind his back. He smiled: “Here, this is for you. Got it for a steal from yet another country whose businesses are facing a solvency crisis.”
Mish took the sword from Ari. “A Gladius sword,” he gushed.
Ariel nodded and smiled. “It’s been on your wish list since you first learned of its existence.”
The fledgling expertly handled the sword in his palms and scrutinized the craftsmanship on the scabbard, hilt and pommel.
“Gorgeous embellishments,” he said. “But didn’t you say it’d been extinct for centuries?”
Ariel nodded again: “I did. I had this one especially custom made for you in Uzbekistan.”
Mish drew the sword out of the scabbard. The blade shimmered under the ceiling lamp. Then, he lightly traced his fingers over the silver filigree.
“The metal’s top of the line, forged by some of the best steelsmiths to be living in Uzbekistan,” Ari added.
“It looks that way,” I remarked.
“Perfect balance, very sharp blade, but light weight,” the child commented appreciatively. “Thank you, Ari. I’ll put this to good use one day. Perhaps we can spar with each other on your next leave. It’ll be an opportunity to get accustomed to the way it feels in my hands.”
Ariel nodded: “Just say the word.”
Leaning his new sword against the headboard, right next to his Katana, the child fetched something from his nightstand. He handed it to his older brother.
“I, too, have something for you,” he said. “It’s from a hamlet near New Canaan.”
Ariel removed the tissue paper wrapping his gift.
“Whoa,” he smiled. “A Quartz.”
“A Chalcedony,” Mish specified.
“Right,” Ari smiled. “Of course, it’s a Chalcedony. And there’s a . . . ?”
“Lemur,” Mish explained. “It’s a lemur – a Madagascan monkey.”
“Exactly,” Ari stated quickly. “And there’s a lemur on the Chalcedony. Thanks, little brother. I’ve always wanted one of these by my bedside.”
“I knew you would,” Mish said with a straight face. “Everyone likes monkeys. Gabriel doesn’t know it yet, but I have a souvenir for him, too. His is a gorilla on an Ebony.”
“A gorilla,” Ari repeated.
“On an Ebony,” Mish added.
“I hear you,” Ari stated, nodding slowly with his lips pursed. He seemed unsure whether to smile or weep: “Well, uh . . . hm. OK. As long as you didn’t pay an arm and a leg for each of them; you know, with inflation and the CPI on an incline.”
Mish shook his head: “But you’re all worth it.”
Ari felt the weight of the quartz in his palm, saying: “Feels pretty hefty.”
His sibling nodded and then asked: “Um . . . would you both like to see what’s under that tarpaulin now?”
Ariel and I nodded. Ari added: “Thought this moment would never come.”
Mish smiled. He swung his legs round, rising from his bed. Wrapping himself with his bed sheet, he led us to the makeshift scaffolding next to his lectern. He uncovered it. On top of the scaffolding was his model of Headquarters, constructed entirely of wooden sticks. It was the pride of three months of his closely-guarded secret ambition.
“I made it for you,” he told me shyly, even uncertainly. “For simply leading the best army on earth. It’s also my homage to our company. Because it is the best company on earth. And I’m honoured to represent the Lord as a member of this company. I . . . love you all.”
“You’re s . . . ,” Ariel started to say.
“I know, I know, I’m such a child,” the fledgling interrupted.
“No,” his brother replied, “I meant to say innocent. You’re so innocent. But don’t be in a hurry to grow up.”
My son’s face reddened. He glanced at me: “Um . . . I know you can’t take it with you to heaven when you leave, but you have about three years to keep it.”
“No,” I responded, “but it’s magnificent. You’ve been secretly building it all this time.”
“Gabriel’s the only one who’s seen every step of its development,” he said, nodding. He pointed at the roof: “He helped me to assemble these slats. It was painstaking work, even for an angel. But no ‘magic’ or ‘spells’ were used. And Uriel was the one who had collected all the bamboo for me while he was in China.”
“Someone else had to donate oodles of glue to you,” Ariel maintained. “You would’ve needed it for such a huge project.”
“Epoxy glue, to be precise,” he nodded, “and Gabriel ensured I wasn’t short of it.”
“Hah!” I smiled, remembering. “I wondered why he was being so secretive about all that glue.”
Mish smiled back. He went away to change out of his bed clothes, leaving his brother and me to inspect his model. We pored over every overlapping angle and bisecting slope and plane of his construction. Nothing of Mish’s eye for detail and appreciation for structural balance and harmony escaped our attention. Ariel was mesmerized.
I hugged and kissed my son with tenderness. As did Ariel, whose ratiocination of the artistry of Mish’s achievement showed how immensely proud he was of his baby brother.
“You did well,” Ari complimented.
“You think?”
“Absolutely.”
“I ought to say this more often,” I informed my son, “but I’m exceedingly proud of you. I was going to wait to give my appraisal at the debriefing tomorrow, but I really must say this now: despite your insecurity about our recent mission in New Canaan, you had comported yourself with a lot of dignity, good spiritual judgment and sense of maturity. When push came to shove, when it really mattered, you were able to cast aside your personal feelings to complete the mission. You were more than ready for a return to duty. You can be very proud of yourself.”
“Whoa,” he whispered, tearing up slightly, “I did not see that coming.”
“That’s because you’re too self-effacing,” Ariel opined.
Mish blushed brightly while Ari lovingly gave him a noogie.
Gabriel had wandered in. He nodded at Ariel, pleased to see him.
“It’s all over the news,” he informed us. “The kings of the East are declaring war on Antichrist’s army of super soldiers.”
The siblings and I followed Gabriel to the mess hall. On the way, the child separated from his older brother, picking up his pace and quickly catching up to his superior. He started to say something. Hearing his warrior, Gabriel slowed down to a full stop. He hunched slightly to incline his ear to the child. Not long after, he gave the child a conciliatory smile before winding his arm around his shoulders. They continued on their way.
Ariel and I followed them closely.
At the mess hall, where the Halflings were chowing down on Paella, we settled down to watch the evening news. Ariel and I stood in back near the kitchen, flanking the angel, Shelumiel. Mish searched the hall, found the angel, Kemuel, and sat beside him. Gabriel advanced to the front, assuming his place next to the television.
Someone had already turned up the speaker dial.
“Intelligence gathering by the Chief of the G.U.’s Counter-insurgency Forces has uncovered a comprehensive plot by the rulers of the eastern Asian region to overthrow the One-world leader’s global reign,” the broadcaster intoned. “Leaked documents attest to a coup de tat being imminent unless the Asian rulers’ demands to contain the global leader’s dictatorial rule can be met successfully at the rulers’ summit in Tokyo next fall. The Asian rulers have vowed that should negotiations enter a stalemate, they would make their descent on the plains of Megiddo, before the spring, to meet the armies of our One-world leader in, what they have dubbed, the War of the Millennium.
“In a covert operation, our sources have been able to obtain top secret intelligence of the Eastern rulers’ intention to employ all means necessary, including using chemical, biological and nuclear warheads, to annihilate the One-world leader’s armies of super soldiers. According to our correspondents in the East, the Asian arsenals of several million soldiers will be mobilized to crush the super soldiers. They have also reported that their silos contain warhead capabilities that are able to obliterate their enemies with a single strike of their Inter-Continental and Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles. Several of the countries in that region have stated that a nuclear war is inevitable. We will have more on this Breaking News after this message. Back in a moment.”
The volume put back down, my warriors turned with one accord to look at me.
I nodded my head. The last two pieces of the Lord’s prophetic jigsaw were falling into place. Soon the world would come under the reign of the Prince of Peace.
“Our Lord Jesus’ Second Coming is at hand,” I reminded everyone. “Let us look up, for the world’s redemption draws near.”
Amen, they said prayerfully and with a united voice. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
