The Hand of God (20 page)

People were gathered outside the church.  It had sustained a decent amount of damage, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired.  There were holes on the roof and burns along the front and sides.  Several people ran up to me as they saw me arrive.  The questions came fast; I couldn’t even tell who was asking what.  The main thing people wanted to know was if it was from God and was it some sort of sign.  I didn’t have an answer for either.  I wanted to be cautious in my words about him anyway.  Though I knew how dangerous he was, some in my church had bought into his game completely.

As we were gathering, a black Lincoln pulled up.  It wasn’t the Bishop though.  A tall man in a suit got out of the driver’s side.  This guy had hair at least, and shook my hand.

“Hello Pastor Charlie, how are you?” He asked.  His hair was black and combed straight back.  His teeth were a little too white.

“I’m okay under the circumstances.”

“Very good.  Bishop Hoover has sent us out among the local churches.  My name is Peter Kemper.  He would like me to speak to God’s people about what happened tonight and to offer our assistance.”

“Well sure, that would be fine.  I’m sure all of us could use some reassurance.”  I said and stepped away from the door.  It was against my better judgment but I was curious what he’d say.  I also found it interesting that the Bishop was sending goons out to churches, like disciples.  I figured this was another chance for him to pull people into his fold.  Everyone filed into the church while Peter took his place at the pulpit.  I went up front to introduce him.

“Good evening everyone.  Thank you for coming out tonight.  I’m glad to see everyone is safe after tonight’s events.  We have a special guest tonight; Peter Kemper is here to discuss with us what happened.”

“Thank you Pastor Charlie,” he began.  “Bishop Hoover sent me here tonight.  As some of you know, he stood among the fire and brimstone that rained down from the sky and rebuked the storm raining from the sky.  The Lord heard his cry and saved our city from further judgment, such has not been seen since Sodom and Gomorrah,” he said in his southern drawl.

He paused, looking around at the stunned faces in the church.

“What happened tonight was nothing less than judgment from Almighty God!  Judgment for our sins, and judgment for the wolves in sheep’s clothing we have allowed among us.  Even here in your little church, there is a wolf, seeking to devour all of God’s sheep.”

There was a collective gasp as people began looking around, trying to figure out who the wolf was among them.  I knew he was talking about me.  I wondered if he would call me out by name. 

“God knows who this man is.  The Bishop knows too and this man will be dealt with under God’s entire wrath.  He will become a vessel of God’s destruction.  All false prophets will be dealt with as the Bishop prepares the way for the day of the Lord!”

People began to shout “Amen!” while some were crying.  Others walked up front and began praying as Peter quietly stepped down and knelt at the altar in prayer.  I knew what he was doing.  Creating panic and dissention in my church, probably other churches too, that way the Bishop can slide right in and take over.  It was a good plan; I’d have done the same thing.  As people went forward to pray, I walked into the church foyer to get a drink of water.  As I bent down over the fountain, there was a voice from behind me.

“You’re not doing a very good job of stopping the Bishop.”  It said.  I turned around and saw it was David Davidson.

Chapter 36

I had to restrain myself from jumping on Davidson and tearing his face off.

“You’re not giving me much help,” I said. “You show up, give some vague hints, and then tell me to stop him.  As he gets stronger and builds this entire enterprise, you all get mad over how I go about stopping him.  What am I supposed to do with all that?  Then he goes and makes it rain fire and brimstone?”

David looked toward the sanctuary where everyone began singing A Mighty Fortress is our God.

“Yes, that was him.  It’s all him.  God has put him on a long leash for some reason.  I don’t know why, nor do I know why he chose you to go after him.  But he has, so you need to quit standing around and do something.”

This was starting to piss me off.  One thing I hated more than anything was a Monday morning quarterback.  You see it a lot in churches.  People who don’t lift a finger to get involved with anything, but they do nothing but critique the ones who do.  Unfortunately, Christians are notorious for it.  Apparently angels aren’t exempt from it, either.  I didn’t want to talk in the foyer any longer, so I stepped outside for some air.  Davidson followed me without a word.

“So why don’t you do something Mr. Angel?”  I asked.  “Bust the Bishop in the face with your harp or something.  I can’t even get close to him unless I’m tied to a chair or something.  You could drop right in and zap him.”

“I’m under orders not to.  You remember the last time an angel disobeyed God don’t you?”

He was talking about Lucifer of course.  For anyone who hasn’t heard the story, Lucifer was a beautiful angel who led others in worship.  He became jealous of God and tried to rise up against him.  God cast him out of heaven long with one third of the angelic host.  He now roams the earth, better known as Satan or the Devil.  His fellow fallen ones are demons.  David’s reference to Lucifer made me wonder just where he was in all of this, unless the Bishop was Lucifer, or worked for him perhaps.

“You know what David,” I said.  “I think I’m about done taking orders from you.  The Bishop could have killed me several times, but hasn’t for whatever reason.”

“He’s toying with you.”

“How do I even know God sent you?  How do I know the Bishop isn’t for real for that matter?’  I hated second guessing myself but I felt like I had my back against the wall.  The Bishop’s little display tonight showed all of us that he could wipe us all out in an instant if he chose to, and God apparently wasn’t going to do anything about it.

“You don’t know Charlie, that’s what faith is about.”

“You know what, fuck faith.  I’m done.  You’ve toyed with me way more than the Bishop.”  I turned and began walking.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” David said.

“Why?  What are you gonna do?”

He stared at me for a moment, so I turned and began walking again. 

“Charlie, stop right now.” He yelled.

“Whatever happened to free will?” I yelled back.

I heard footsteps coming up on me.  I spun around and saw David running toward me, but as he ran his body began to change.  His head morphed into something that looked like a wolf, except with no hair.  Huge wings protruded from his back, except they didn’t look like angels wings.  They were large, black and leathery, like what you’d see on a bat.  He grew several inches as he bore his teeth, spread his wings and stood before me. 

I turned again, but this time I took off running.  In seconds, he soared through the air and took me down, landing on my back as I face planted into the concrete.  I struggled to get my breath as the thing’s hot breath snorted on the back of my neck.

“You’re not really an angel are you?” I grunted.

“And you’re not very bright, pastor.”  The thing growled.  I tried to move, but its huge talons were pinning me down.  “Someone wants to talk to you,” it said.  As he spoke, there was a loud explosion and a plume of smoke came from the ground a few feet in front of me.  The smoke swirled and slowly cleared, revealing a man.

“It’s okay my friend.”  The man said to the thing on top of me.  “You can let him up.”  The thing stepped off of me, letting out a growl for good measure.  I sat up and looked at the visitor.  He was slightly taller than me, had dark hair and a beard, both neatly trimmed.  The man was wearing blue jeans and a dark sport coat.  He came toward me and held out his hand to help me stand.

“Hi Charlie,” he said.  “I’m Lucifer.  We need to talk.”

Chapter 37

The man who called himself Lucifer looked me up and down for a moment as I got to my feet.  It had been warm and humid just a few moments before, but it felt as if the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees in the last couple minutes.  I looked at the thing that used to be Davidson and saw he had turned back into himself.  He gave me a wink as I glanced at him; I was back to wanting to rip his face off.

“So Lucifer,” I began.  “What the hell?”  Not the most profound thing I could think of, but I was at a loss for words at the moment. 

“Yeah, I imagine you’re a bit confused.  Sorry about that.”

“So you and your guy here had me thinking God wanted me to stop the bishop, and it was you all along?  And you expect me to believe you’re actually the devil?”

“I don’t expect you to believe anything.  But I am the devil, as you like to say.  Lucifer isn’t even my real name, but that’s what everyone knows me by.” 

“So what is your real name?”

“You couldn’t pronounce it in your language, so Lucifer is fine for now.”

“Why did you and your guy here lie to me?”  I asked.

“I’m the devil.  I’m known to do that.” He shrugged.

“Right.”

“Okay, Charlie, here’s the thing.”  He took out a cigarette and lit it.  “You’re a man of the Book, so you know the score here.” 

He was referring to the Bible of course.

“Since when does the devil smoke?”

He glanced at his cigarette and took a drag.

“Eh, nervous habit when I’m appearing to you mortals.”

“Nice.  And yes, I think I do know the score.  At least I thought I did.  Not sure what the score is now, or what game we’re even playing.”

“Indeed.  Just so you know, I didn’t entirely lie to you.  The best lies are ninety percent truth you know.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“This one was maybe ninety-nine percent.”  He nodded toward Davidson.  “Ezrael there is an angel, a fallen one, but an angel no less.  You might call him a demon.  You are really descended from the Nephilim, all that stuff is true.  The part I lied about was God sending Ezrael.”

“Yeah, I figured that part was a lie.  So, why all the theatrics?  The Bishop is obviously shady.  I figured he’d be right up your alley.”

“Well, that’s just it, Chuck.”

“Charlie.”

“Whatever.”  He dropped off some ashes and took another drag. 

“So what?  The Bishop is some kind of rogue demon who got out of hand so you want me to stop him or something?”

“Unfortunately, it’s nothing that simple.”

“Then, what?”

“Well,” he looked down for a moment as if he was searching for words.  Who would have thought the devil himself could be bashful.  “God kind of sent him.”

“Kind of sent him?”  I didn’t like where this was going.

“Okay, he did send him, and then some.”

“Are you capable of spitting out the truth?  Why should I believe anything you say?  You’re the great deceiver!”

He shook his head, laughing.

“Charlie, I got a really bad rap in that book.  It’s too bad us celestial beings can’t sue for libel.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Okay, I mean, I did do some bad stuff.  But they blame everything on me in there.  If only people knew the truth.”

“And just what is that?”