rpggal

I played with tarot cards and it messed with my mind. So I tend to avoid it.

Do you love simulation games? What games do you recommend?

Susan wept. She had tried days to get a baby, but it was to no avail. Every night, she went to bed, with an attempt to get pregnant. Every day, she was disappointed by the fact that pregnancy did not come in spite of her trying hard for it. Susan thought about Jesus, and thought that where human efforts might fail, perhaps the Lord will succeed. Therefore she prayed, "Jesus, if you give me a chuld of my own, I will dedicate him or her in service to you and teach him or her about your ways." Jesus heard her, and next year, she gave birth to a son, whom she named Tom. When Tom was born, though, Susan was so busy taking care of him and ensuring that his physical needs were met, that she forgot about her promise to God. She failed to dedicate the child to God. She did not teach him about Jesus nor did she tell bible stories to him when it was bedtime. She did not pray for him to grow up right in the Lord. And on his 13th birthday, as per his request, she bought him a deck of tarot cards even though divination was a sin in the bible. The child grew in his love for the occult and progressed from playing with tarot cards to accepting Satan into his life as his lord and father. He bought a Satanic bible for himself, much to the distress of Susan. Because Satan hated Jesus, Tom hated Jesus as well. Since his mother was a Christian who worshipped Jesus, he hated her as well. He placed a curse in her life and was very rude to her. He even told her how he hated her and did not want her as a mother. Due to the trouble with her son, Susan began to pour out her woes to Jesus. "Oh Jesus, I rather you never brought Tom into my life! Why did you give him to me when he would grow up to be so rebellious!" Jesus quietly listened to her complaints thpigh the folks lied with her. On his 23rd birthday, Tom was sentenced to the death row for the multiple murders of Christian children. He did it as a devotion to his father Satan. Susan was deeply grieved. As a result of Tom's rebellion, she had grown close to Jesus and Jesus reminded her that long ago, she promised to dedicate her son to Him and still could do so, if she would. Even though she had not kept her side of the bargain while the Lord had kept His, the Lord was kind and patient with her and told her to pray for her son's salvation. Susan repented of her sins. She began to fall on her knees and prayed for the salvation of Tom. She dedicated her son Tom to Jesus and asked Him to use him in heaven even while he could not use him on earth. The Lord graciously answered her prayers. Tom met a pastor during his time in jail and just before he was given the electric chair, he received Jesus as his savior and wrote to his mother to forgive him for the unfilial son that he was. Susan was overjoyed. She might have lose his son on earth, but she gained a son in eternity. And that is because she remember her promise to dedicate her son to Jesus.

For US$2.99, you can get access to the whole bronte sisters or other classics authors' works. I wonder if the formatting is good, though. Anyone have any experience with it? Care to share?

I purchased them online.

Wow, glad to see fellow lovers of short stories here!

Thanks for your comment.

I am a vampire. I loved to watch unsuspecting males come to me. I thought they deserved their deaths as I drained their blood. The looks of fear on their faces thrilled me. Yet, somewhere within me, I felt dirty. Unclean. Then, one day, I heard of Him. Jesus Christ. It was said that this man could perform any kind of miracles. Hope began to reign in me. Perhaps, just perhaps, I could be a human, again. No more curses, more days of sucking human blood, no more uncleanness. So, I visited Him at night. "Make me a human, so that I could not sin." I pleaded. He replied, "It does not matter whether you are a human or a vampire. The choice to sin or not lies not in that." "If you do not make me a human, I will suck your blood." I threatened. "My blood will be given at the proper time. Tonight is not the day." He replied, with a firm conviction. I did not know what came over me, but I did not suck His blood that night. I was very bitter, however over the fact that He did not respond to my plead. Then, I heard of His death, from a group of Christians I met. How it was voluntary, how He died and shed His blood so that mankind can be reconciled to their maker. "Dear Jesus, I am a vampire, and not a human. Will you save me too?" I prayed. I had no hope that He would save me, after all, He had rejected my plead before. Still, a change came over me. I no longer craved human blood. Instead, I feed on animal's blood. He is truly still a man of miracles!

Raoden truly is born a leader. I am reading the part where he tried to recruit new people to his side and asked them what they are good at doing. And he is so positive even though he is taken by the shaod. Everyone around him has more or less given up on living, but he tried to instill positive changes in others. He takes risk even though he might be attacked by the other two leaders in elantris. I find myself really rooting for him.

Tuon is such a hypocrite! What does Mat see in her? Confronted with the fact that she herself can channel, she still tried to train damane and enjoys it. I totally despise her and feel so sorry for Mat. (Currently reading the part where she tried to train Joline, Teslyn etc)

Prolo: The Child and Lucifer Lucifer smiled as he made himself appeared in the physical form of a man. He entered the room which his Satanists had prepared for him. They had captured the girl, the child of his enemy. They had captured the only daughter of a Christian pastor, who had been meddling with his work. Mr. Elijah Green had been active in his outreach to the Satanists. His effective work and fervency for Jesus had resulted in the conversions of many Satanists to Christianity. This had resulted in a loss of face for Lucifer, especially before his subordinates. Asmodeus and Beelzebub might think that he was a fool, but Lucifer was well aware of their criticism of his failures behind his back. Together with Belial, Leviathan and Abaddon, they had been gossiping about him! As if it was his fault and only his fault that Mr. Elijah Green was successful in his outreach! Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belial, Leviathan and Abaddon had been blind to their own failures. He, Lucifer, had placed them as leaders to oversee the general affairs on Earth, and they had been negligent in their works. They had been lazy and complacent, underestimating the simple Christian pastor until he started to succeed in turning one Satanist after another away from Satanism, and into the hands of that arrogant Son of God, who died on the cross for the world. And it was up to him, and him alone to handle the mess that they left behind in their utter incompetency. When they finally reported to him about the presence of this Elijah Green, it was too late for him to do anything! Much too late indeed! This simple pastor had grown so wide in his faith for Jesus that it was impossible to stop him at his works. Incompetent fools! If they had told him about the problem earlier, while Mr. Green was still a young pastor, struggling to hear God's voice accurately, something might still be done to cause the pastor to doubt God's call in his life. A false vision, a misleading dream, a beautiful girl, a rich and successful career, disapproving christian brothers and sisters. Oh, there were so many possibilities, so many avenues Lucifer could use to lead this Elijah to a path away from his true calling. Now, Mr. Green had seen too much successful conversions of the Satanists to Christianity, that it is impossible to make him doubt his calling. All that remained for Lucifer to do was to make the pastor pay back for all the damages he had done. Yes, revenge. If Lucifer could not make the pastor turned away from his true calling, then Lucifer would make sure that the pastor suffered in as great a manner as possible, for the humiliation he had caused Lucifer to experience, before God, before the holy angels and before incompetent fools like Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belial, Leviathan and Abaddon. As such, Lucifer had brought himself to swallow all his humiliations and discomfort, and went to present himself before the throne of God. Just like what he had often done, when he wanted God to give him the power to hurt someone, who, otherwise, would have been protected by God and out of his reach. He had to bring himself to ignore all the glares of the holy angels that were surrounding God, as he presented his petition before the Most High. "Give me the child of Elijah Green." Lucifer petitioned. "Why?" God questioned. Lucifer was uncomfortable with the look that his maker was giving to him. It was as if God had seen through all of him, being aware of all his motives. "This Elijah claimed to love you above all things. Yet, I had noticed that there were moments when he forgot all about you when he was spending his time with his only daughter. His love for you was not true." Lucifer lied. He knew in his heart that Elijah did love God. "I had never doubted Elijah's love for me." God replied. "Then, give me the child."Lucifer hissed. It was weird how God had looked at him, then. God had looked at him with His eyes. His so piercing, so knowing, almost seemingly sorrowful eyes. Lucifer almost thought that there was some love in those eyes. Love for the pastor, love for the child, and love even for him. Except it was not possible, of course, that God still loves him. Not after his rebellion. Not after all he had done. Not after God had proclaimed through His book of revelation that He would send Lucifer to burn eternally in the lake of fire. No, thought Lucifer to himself, he must have imagined those love he saw in the eyes of His maker. God loves the pastor, He loves the child, but He does not love Lucifer. Not anymore. "Give me the child." Lucifer repeated. Again, the sorrowful looking eyes. It seemed to plead with Lucifer, to ask Lucifer to turn away from his evil, and be good. But it must have been his imagination, of course. God had after-all, declared to the whole universe his judgment of Lucifer. God had condemned him to an eternity in the burning lake. God had ceased calling him by his name Lucifer, and addressed him as Satan. God had ceased to love him. He was no longer a son of God, he was now God's enemy. God's only desire for him was to see him suffered eternally. And he wished he could make God suffered, too. Physically, mentally, emotionally. But since he could not make God suffered in a physical or mental sense, he would have to confine himself to hurting God emotionally. And that was what he had been doing, and what he would continue to do. "Give me the child."Lucifer said, calmly. "Very well, the child is in your hand. But on her father, do not lay a hand."God replied. Lucifer smiled. That was what he wanted to hear. The glares of the holy angels, some of who used to be his friends, were hard to ignore. But somehow, Lucifer managed to ignore them. On obtaining his permission from the Most High, Lucifer set to work. He ordered Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belial, Leviathan and Abaddon to gather together his top Satanists, and to convey to them his wishes for them to kidnap the only daughter of Elijah Green. He promised to give them more Satanic power than they had ever possessed if they accomplished his will. Incompetent though they were, the Satanists managed to kidnap the child, and they had locked her in the room of a mansion that belonged to one of them. Lucifer had no interest to know whose room it was he was using, he was not interested in knowing the names of the Satanists who had successfully kidnapped the child for him. They were merely his tools for him to make full use of, and then to dispose of when they were of no more use to him. He hated them as much as he hated the Christians, and the rest of the human race. For now, he was obsessed about and thinking of the child, and the many ways he could hurt her. The many ways he could make her father paid! The girl was about 12 years old and she blinked her eyes as Lucifer entered the room. Apparently, she was surprised to see him, surprised but calm. Lucifer tried to smell for the scent of fear and dread within her, but all he managed to smell was her sense of calmness, and a bit of curiosity. "Do you know who I am?" Lucifer asked. "Satan." The child replied. "Aren't you afraid of me, then?" Lucifer hissed. The child blinked her eyes, but she did not reply. Lucifer made use of his power, and a knife appeared in his right hand. "I am going to kill you," Lucifer said. "Was it fun?" The child asked. "Fun?" Lucifer questioned. "Killing. Was killing fun?" The child asked. "It had nothing to do with fun. It was something that I wanted done." Lucifer replied. "Why?" The child asked. "Because I hate you." Lucifer replied. "Was it fun?" The child asked. "Was hating someone fun?" "No," Lucifer admitted. "It was not fun." "Then, why hate?" The girl asked. "Because I had nothing to lose," Lucifer replied. "He will be sending me to hell. Whether it is one person that I hurt or a million persons, my judgment will be the same." "Are you afraid of judgment?" The girl asked. "No," Lucifer lied. "Do you still love Him?" The girl asked. "No," Lucifer replied. "Do you once love Him?" The child questioned. "Maybe," Lucifer replied. "Do you miss the maybe?" The child asked. Lucifer sighed, "Maybe..." "Then, ask Him to forgive you." The child said. "He won't forgive me," Lucifer replied. "How do you know if you never ask?" The child questioned. "He said so in His book. In Revelation. He declared my future for me. He would send me to an eternity in the lake of fire. The judgment had been set. The judgment had been written down in the book." "Is the Judge more powerful or the book?" The child asked. "The Judge." Lucifer replied. "Then, ask the Judge to change His mind about what He wrote in His book." The girl said. "He won't. I know His justice. He hates me..." Lucifer said. "Have you read the book of Jonah?" The child asked. "I know all the stories in the Bible," Lucifer replied. "Judgment was set against Nineveh. God proclaimed the destruction of Nineveh. It was His word. But was Nineveh destroyed in the end?" The child asked. "No," Lucifer replied. "Why? Because God's word was not true?" The child asked. "No, because Nineveh repented and God changed His mind about the judgment He had originally decreed against Nineveh." Lucifer said.. "See? God can change His mind?" The child smiled. "But... the book... " Lucifer protested. "God wrote the book, and if anyone can change the decreed written in it, that Someone is God." The child replied. Lucifer was deeply disturbed. Could it be possible? Could there be a chance for him? Could God change His mind about the judgment? No, it could not be possible. "Stop telling me about God!" Lucifer shouted. "I will pray for you, pray for you to ask God to forgive you." The child replied. "Shut up!" Lucifer yelled, and he lightly cut the throat of the girl. Even in his anger, he was in control of his own actions. He deliberately cut through enough of the girl's windpipe to ensure that she would die, but not so deep that she died immediately. He wanted the girl to suffer, to suffer the pain of suffocation. He laughed as the girl choked to breathe, while blood trickled down her throat. Lucifer wanted to lick at the blood that flowed down the child's throat, but something stopped him. It was the look that the child gave to him. A look of forgiveness. A look of love. The girl, although, struggling in pain to gather the air into her lungs, was saying through her eyes, I would pray for you. I would pray for you. I would pray for you. I would pray for you. The child's eyes screamed. Lucifer slashed at the throat of the child. Again. And again. And again. He was still slashing, when Abaddon came for him. "Lord, the girl is already dead," Abaddon said, looking amused at Lucifer's uncontrollable rage. "I know she is already dead," Lucifer lied. "I just wanted to make sure that her father knew that I did it in hatred." "As you said, my Lord," Abaddon replied, although he still looked amused. "Why are you here?" Lucifer regained his calm composure. "It is about the archangel Michael. He had defeated Beelzebub. And the head Satanist of The Black Chapel had accepted Christ, under the leading of Elijah Green." Incompetent fool! Lucifer wanted to yell at Abaddon, but chose to keep his thoughts to himself. I would pray for you. The echo of the child would not go away. Oh, why wouldn't it go away? Chapter One- God and Lucifer It was so long ago. It was so very long ago. The day of his creation. The day when he first became aware that he is a living being. Lucifer tried to shake the thoughts of the past away from his mind. He had paid a visit to the funeral of the girl, and Elijah Green was there. The man was pale, deeply shaken. He would not talk to anybody. He would not even pray to God. The ex-Satanists who tried to comfort him, were ignored by him. He was sitting alone by himself, clutching onto the photograph of his only daughter. Tears streamed down his deeply grieved face. Lucifer laughed. That is what you get for messing with me. Abaddon, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belial and Leviathan were with him at the funeral. They were laughing and chatting among themselves, ignoring him. Like him, they were delighted at the devastation of Elijah Green over the loss of his only daughter. Lucifer was so overjoyed at his accomplishment that he wanted to go to his subordinates, and talked to them. But he kept himself aloof, instead. No, he would not talk to his subordinates. He would not put into their mind the idea that he was friendly towards them. They needed to fear him, if he hoped to continue to exercise power over them. He knew they coveted his position, and if they thought he was friendly with them, they might just try to overthrow him. Like what he did with God. How long ago was it, when he first opened his eyes? And the first being that captivated his eyes was Him. He was full of curiosity, then. Full of curiosity of the being before him. Of the being that was busy creating other angels. Yet, in spite of His extreme business, God had the time for his curiosity, had the time to smile at him. It was so amazing, how God could be so busy creating the other angels, and yet seemed to have all the time for him. To give him all His attention, as if he was the only angel that He had created. He looked-looked with all of his eyes at God. And God looked back at him. He was so exalted, so exalted to see the being who had made him. He was so grateful, so grateful at being made, that he wanted to look with all of his strength at His maker. His maker was eagerly delighted to look at him. And for a long moment, God and him looked at each other, and they were not aware of the other angels. It was a special place, a place where only God and he existed, a place where no other being could intrude. And in that place, both God and him were so busy looking at each other that they forgot to see any other being or any other thing. "Are you done with looking?" God laughed. The first sound that he had heard. It was such a sweet sound, and his ears were delighted to listen to His laughter. He blushed. "You were looking at me," Lucifer protested. And then, he blushed, again. God laughed. "You are pretty to look at." "Like you?" He asked, curious. The being before him was very beautiful. He was beautiful beyond measure. "Not like me, but pretty, nonetheless." God laughed. He blushed, again. "I like to look at you," Lucifer said, shyly. "You are so beautiful." "Do you really think I am beautiful?" God asked, delightfully. "Yes, I do. You are the most beautiful being I had seen," Lucifer replied, shyly. "Will you never cease to think of me as being beautiful?" God asked. "I will always think of you as being beautiful," Lucifer replied, joyfully. "I promise." He would keep his promise, oh yes, he would. Nothing... nothing in the universe... would ever make him failed to see the One who had given him sight as beautiful. No, His maker will always be the most beautiful being in His eyes. God laughed. He was exceedingly happy. It was such a joy for Lucifer to see His maker being so happy. "Lucifer..." God began. "Lucifer?" Lucifer questioned. "Your name," God replied. "Do you love it?" "Light-bearer," Lucifer said, making full use of his intellect to decipher the meaning behind his name. "Yes," God replied. "Do you love it?" "I love it very much," Lucifer replied. "Father." God laughed, again. God truly delighted to laugh. He seemed to laugh so frequently. He was really nice to look at, nice to listen to, and nice to talk to, as well. "Call me 'Father', again." God laughed. "Father, Father, Father, Father, was that enough?" Lucifer asked, playfully. "I will never get tired of hearing you call me 'Father'," God replied. "My son." Lucifer laughed. It was such a marvelous thing to be created, it was such a joy to exist, it was such a wonder to be able to be with Him. "Will you love to sing?" God asked. "Sing?" Lucifer questioned. God sang. His voice was so beautiful. The tune was soothing and harmonious. Lucifer felt like he was flowing away with the song. "I love your song," Lucifer laughed. "Will you love to sing, my son Lucifer?" God asked. It was at this point that Lucifer realized that even though God is one being, He is manifested in three persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the three persons are in agreement with one another, and God spoke as one being, with the Father being the dominant person. Lucifer realized, at the same time, too, that he was capable of thinking. He was aware of the thoughts that were running through his mind. Without being taught how to speak, he had immediately knew how to speak. Without being lectured on how to see, he could immediately see. Without anyone guiding him to hear, his ears were able to respond well to sound. Such thoughts were too marvelous for him. And in delight, Lucifer freely sang: "You are my maker, beautiful and eternal. You give me eyes, and they are blessed to see your beauty. You give me ears, and they are fortunate to hear your wonderful voice. You give me a brain, and they fathom your mysteries. You give me mouth, and I praise you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit." God laughed, delighted to receive the genuine worship Lucifer was giving to Him. It was at this moment when Lucifer noticed that other songs were flowing into his ears. The other angels... they were singing. It was at this moment when Lucifer became aware and conscious of the other angels. And he laughed as he joined in the chorus, together with the other angels. They sang happily, in harmonious unity, delightful at being made, and enthusiastically determined to give to their Creator the best of their praise and worship. "My Lord, my Lord, my Lord, MY LORD!" The shout startled him. Lucifer regained his thought, to see Beelzebub looking with puzzlement at him. "What is the matter," Lucifer asked. "My Lord, you were smiling." Beelzebub replied. "I am pleased at the grief I had caused Elijah," Lucifer lied. "It was not just that smile that was in your face. You were humming. If I did not know how much you hated Him, I would have thought that you were singing a song about Him." Beelzebub said. "Nothing of that sort. I will never worship Him, never ever. Never, never, never ever." Lucifer stated, matter-of-factly. Beelzebub smiled, "You should have seen the faces of the angels that hovered around Elijah. They were upset at their inabilities to comfort that man." Lucifer laughed, "That is what they deserve for being His blind slaves!" Beelzebub laughed. "Let's get back to hell. There is nothing much for us to do here," Lucifer said. Beelzebub nodded, and went to gather the other top ranking demons of Lucifer. They vanished away from the site of the funeral into hell. Lucifer found himself thinking about the song, again. The first song in which all the angels had united together to sing to their Creator. Beelzebub was there, too. He was there, together with Abaddon, Belial, Asmodeus, Leviathan, and all the demons. And they, too, were singing—together with the angels, together with Lucifer. And their faces had radiated joy back then. Lucifer shook his thoughts. Stop thinking of the past. But his thoughts would not leave him alone, and Lucifer found himself wondering if he would choose to sing a song now, would it sound as harmonious and lovely, as it had once sounded? Or would it be distorted, and unpleasant, a reflection of his current fallen state? Lucifer did not want to know the answer. Chapter Two— Jesus and Lucifer Elijah Green was lying on his bed, but he was not asleep. The man was staring at the ceiling, his body unmoving, his mind apparently obsessed in thoughts. He had been in this state for days. After the funeral, he had retreated away from his church, from his duties and had been doing nothing in particular. The Christians in his church had been praying very hard for him. In his absence, one of the ex-Satanist who had become a Christian had taken over his duties. Lucifer laughed. He was wrong about there being nothing to stop Elijah from his calling. He had overestimated Elijah. If he had known earlier how the death of Elijah's only child would cause him to lose interest in everything, he would have petitioned God earlier for the life of the girl. Jesus, the Son of God, was sitting on the bed beside Elijah. His right hand was holding onto Elijah's right hand, but the Christian pastor was too distressed to be aware of the presence of His savior. Tears were rolling down the eyes of Jesus. The angels were unable to comfort the pastor. The angels had tried all they could to divert his thoughts away from the loss of his daughter, but they were not successful. The angels had felt helpless, and they reported their failures to comfort the man to their Master, and Jesus had quickly come down to take over their jobs. Yet, Jesus wasn't talking to the man. He was not speaking words of comfort. Jesus was merely holding the man's hand, and Jesus was grieving with him. Lucifer looked at Jesus in triumph. "I told you, the man loves his daughter more than you." Lucifer boasted. Jesus was silent, ignoring Lucifer. He looked at the man who He was with, and He gave that man all His attention. Lucifer looked at the Son of God, who had come down as a man, to die on the cross, for all the wrong-doers. Jesus surely loves the mortals, in spite of their rebellions and unfaithfulness towards Him. The Son of God is so full of love for the beings that He had created together with His Father and with the Holy Spirit. Once, this Son of God had loved him, and once, he had loved this same Son of God with every inch of his being. The Son was laughing, as He swam. The pool was crystal clear, and it was very big. God had manifested Himself in the person of the Son. The Father was there, as was the Holy Spirit, but it was the Son, who was being the dominant person of the Trinity God. And the Son had appeared in a substantial form. Lucifer flew on top of the Son, as he gazed lovingly at the beautiful being before him. It was such a joy to look at the Son. He was so beautiful. "Come and join me, Lucifer." The Son said, His eyes looking lovingly at the angel that was flying above Him. "No, thank you," Lucifer replied. He had no wish to get himself wet. The Son stopped swimming and looked up at Lucifer. There was a playful sparkle in His lovely eyes. Before Lucifer could prepare himself for what was coming, the water in the pool splashed outward and it drenched all of him. The Son laughed. "Come and join me, now, Lucifer." Lucifer dived into the water, and began splashing the water back at the Son. The Son tried to dodge his water attack, but to no avail. Lucifer was determined, and he was splashing the water with all his strength at the Son. The Son laughed as waves after waves of water hit Him. "I only hit you once with the water, and you hit me back so many times." Lucifer laughed. "Consider it a shower of blessings from me." "Then, I will give you my shower of blessings as well." The Son replied, as He resumed His water attack on Lucifer. It was a war of the water, with the Son and Lucifer both trying hard to dodge the water of their opponent, while sending as much water as they could towards their opponent. And they were laughing wildly, as they 'attacked' each other with water, and tried to 'defend' themselves from the water. Occasionally, a few angels flew by, and stopped to watch the water battle. These angels quickly flew away, though when The Son and Lucifer temporarily stopped their attack towards one another, and sent the water splashing onto the watching angels. It was awhile before they got tired of their water splashing game. They sat on a bench that was near the pool and stared into the water in deep contemplation. "Water is a wonderful creation of yours, my King." Lucifer said. "It is not as wonderful as you. Or your brothers." The Son smiled. "Will you ever create a place where there is no trace of water?" Lucifer asked, his mind full of curiosity. For a moment, for a brief moment, Lucifer thought he caught a look of sorrow, flashing across the face of the Son. It was as if the Son was seeing something painful. "I hope that I do not ever have to create a place without water," The Son replied, with a sad look in His eyes. Then, The Son managed to gather Himself and was His cheerful self, again. "Do you think we should invite your brother Gabriel here to the pool, and 'attack' him together. He was always so serious. A shower of blessings from the two of us might 'awaken' the not so serious side of him." The Son laughed. Lucifer was excited with the idea. "It will do Gabriel a lot of good. If you do not mind, I will be your strategist. I will come up with the plan on how we can invite Gabriel to the pool, without arousing his suspicion." The Son laughed. "You are the most intelligent being I had made. With you by my side, I don't have to worry about anything." Lucifer laughed, "I will always be your strategist. I will always glorify you with the mind that you have given me." The Son laughed. Oh, how delightful and blessed He looked! Lucifer shifted his thoughts back to the present, and he noticed that Jesus was looking at him. Elijah was still lying on the bed, but Jesus' eyes was no longer on Elijah. Instead, Jesus was looking at him. Lucifer felt uneasy under the look of Jesus. Jesus' eyes were deep in thought, contemplative in nature. It was as if Jesus had traveled with him to their past, and Lucifer did not like that thought at all. "Elihua...my girl..." Elijah moaned, and Jesus' attention was back with the Christian pastor. Lucifer gladly made use of the opportunity to retreat to hell. "My Lord, you had been crying," Belial exclaimed on seeing Lucifer. "Sweat, they were sweat, not tears," Lucifer lied, and he retreated back to his private chamber. A place without water. Oh, that was the place he was in right now. And Lucifer thirsted, greatly. Not for physical water, but for Him. Chapter Three- Holy Spirit and Lucifer Lucifer laughed as he relaxed himself. The groans and screams of the damned always excited him. He loved to hear their regrets. The damned always cried out for Jesus, promising to mend their ways if He would give them a chance to live again. Except of course, they were merely lying. The damned were like him. They were his children, his off-springs- tools he had used to manifest evil in their world. Not all of them were as evil as the Satanists. Some of... no... most of the damned looked righteous in their own eyes. They were normal people, who never murdered, never stole, never committed adultery. But they downloaded copyrighted materials, they told lies, they did not donate to that starving child that they passed by on the street and they spread gossips. There were many, many 'minor' deeds they committed, that were wrong in the eyes of the Holy God. As such, He could not permit them to enter into heaven. For God hated wrong deeds with a passion. Even seemingly 'small' wrong deeds were like atrocities before the fully Righteous God. In His wrath, in His anger, God sent them to hell. And here they were, full of regret and sorrow, suffering in pain, crying out in their weakness to a God that no longer hears their prayers. They dreaded the day of Final judgment as much as all the demons in hell did. Lucifer knew that the demons were afraid of the judgment, though they never talked much of it. They were all cowards, the demons and the damned. Lucifer was the only brave one, the only being that was not afraid of God and His judgment, and the only being who would never be afraid. Stupid fools, Lucifer thought to himself when his mind focused back on the damned, again. If they had accepted Jesus' salvation, they would not be here. Thinking about Jesus made Lucifer uneasy. Ever since that day when Jesus looked at him as if He had traveled back to their past with Lucifer, Lucifer had felt uneasy each time he came face to face with Jesus. He hated it, hated the fact that Jesus was aware of what he was thinking. He hated looking like a weakling before Jesus, looking like some lost angel who was still hungry for His love. Oh, why did he cry? Asmodeus flew towards Lucifer. Lucifer frowned. Why did that fool come here? Wasn't he ordered to stay on guard around Elijah Green? "My Lord, Elijah Green is reading the Bible," Asmodeus said. Incompetent fool, Lucifer thought, and he flew to Earth. Asmodeus went with him. The Christian pastor still looked lifeless, but he was engrossed with the reading of the bible. Jesus was not with him, though the angels were surrounding him. The angels were happy, having managed to convince Elijah to take a look at the bible he had not looked at for days. Lucifer sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was with Elijah. He was gently opening the meaning of the scripture to the Christian pastor. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is and has always been a humble person. He is always in the background, not drawing attention to Himself, while pointing all of His creation to look at The Father or The Son. Lucifer wondered what book Elijah was reading. He hoped it wasn't the book of Revelation. Lucifer hated the book of Revelation. No, it was nothing to do with the judgment, written in that book. Lucifer was not afraid of being judged, he was not afraid of the lake of fire. He simply did not like the book of Revelation. It was a matter of personal preference. Lucifer wanted to draw closer to Elijah to take a peek at what he was reading, but the holy angels were guarding him. And Lucifer did not want to engage in a warfare with them, simply over his curiosity about the book which Elijah was reading. Elijah sobbed. The Holy Spirit comforted him. "Oh, it was so hard to be like Job. How could the man praise You after he had lost all that he had? I couldn't praise you, God. I couldn't." The Holy Spirit hugged Elijah. I understand, my child. I understand. The Holy Spirit whispered gently into the ears of the depressed pastor. The book of Job, Lucifer thought. The pastor was reading the book of Job. Elijah continued sobbing. His wife, who had been out of his sight for days, walked to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes were red. She had been crying, too. The Holy Spirit embraced the grieving couple. Unlike Jesus, the Holy Spirit, does not have the form of a 'human'. He cannot be seen, and yet His presence can be felt. He is always working to support The Father and The Son. He rarely draws attention to Himself. Yet, He is as much God as the other persons of the Trinity. When Lucifer fell from heaven, the Holy Spirit left him. The Holy Spirit who used to work in the background to inspire all his songs and music. It was to be the tenth anniversary of the creation of the angels in heaven. And Lucifer was responsible for the worship on that day. God was looking forward to the event, and the other angels were excited about the tenth anniversary. It was a big day. Lucifer wanted his song to express his heartfelt gratitude towards Him. The Holy Spirit embraced him. Lucifer laughed, "Holy Spirit, you should not be here. It will not be a surprise, anymore, if you knew the whole content of the song before I even sang it." The Holy Spirit chuckled. Silly Lucifer, you need my inspiration if you hope to surprise Us. The Holy Spirit whispered gently. Lucifer laughed, "Well, that is true. You are always the inspiration behind all our songs." The Holy Spirit whispered, What is your plan for Us this time? Lucifer said, playfully, "This anniversary, I plan to glorify the Father and the Son." That is great, the Holy Spirit laughed. Lucifer laughed, "The Father and the Son only. I don't intend to glorify You." The playfulness sparkled within the eyes of Lucifer. The Holy Spirit laughed. You love me too much to do that. "Yes," Lucifer admitted. "It was only a joke." Seriously, what is your plan, the Holy Spirit asked. "Love," Lucifer replied. "I want to create a song that magnifies Your love." You did that last year, and the year before that, and on every year of the anniversary. The Holy Spirit whispered. "This year, I still want to sing of Your love." Lucifer replied. "I never grow tired of singing about the love of the Father, Son and You." Holy Spirit smiled, Well, since we have a theme, let's work on the content of the song. Lucifer smiled. He searched within his intellect to come out with the words of the song. The Holy Spirit worked silently within him, offering suggestions here and there, guiding him as he worked hard to compose a song that he and the other angels could sing. "I love you, God, even if you took our child away." Elijah cried. "I love you, God, even if you took our child away." His wife repeated after him. The couple hugged each other and sobbed. Thank you, the Holy Spirit whispered. But the couple could not hear His voice. Lucifer retreated back to hell, rage struggling to overpower him. Abaddon stayed behind on earth to keep watch over Elijah. What a waste! Lucifer thought to himself. He put off his plans to appear before the throne of God. No, today, he would not be meeting the Most High. He had no wish to listen to His boastful praise about Elijah, and he did not want to see Jesus. Chapter Four- The Angels and Lucifer Elijah Green was engaged on the phone. He was busy counseling an Ex-Satanist who had just become a Christian convert. Leviathan had enticed that Ex-Satanist to renounce Jesus and went back to Satanism. While that ex-Satanist was reluctant to renounce Jesus, he was troubled by the reactions of the other Satanists over his betrayal of Satan. His former friends had deserted him, and he felt a sudden pang of loneliness. He was also uncertain about whether he had made the right choice in deciding to choose to follow Jesus over his previous master Satan. "The Lord never said that following Him will be a sweet and easy path, Joe. In fact, Jesus had claimed that we will be persecuted if we ever choose to follow Him." Elijah spoke only the phone. A look of sorrow came over his face. "I had lost my only daughter to Satan, because of my love of the Lord." Archangel Michael was standing near the pastor, guarding Elijah as the pastor spoke to the Ex-Satanist. Elijah's wife, Amy, was praying at a corner. About five other angels were with Michael. The six angels that were guarding Elijah and his wife were all sent by God. Amy had prayed for the protection of her husband and herself and God had answered her prayers. Earlier, Lucifer had petitioned to God for the lives of the pastor and his wife, but he had been unsuccessful. God had rejected his appeal. "Satan, get away from me!" God had rebuked him. "Elijah and his wife are faithful servants of mine. Take your hands off them!" Lucifer had left the throne of God, enraged. The angels who were with God when he presented his petition broke into happy smiles when they saw that God had not granted him his request. Lucifer glared at the archangel Michael, with hatred in his eyes. Michael ignored him and continued to stand guard over the couple. Stupid Michael, thought Lucifer to himself. If not for God, you would never be my match. It would be futile to engage Michael in a battle. Alone, Michael would not be a match for him. But having God's permission to protect the couple, Michael was not himself, and thus, he was armed with the strength of God and Lucifer was no match for God. Leviathan flew towards Lucifer. "My Lord, the angels were surrounding Joe. I couldn't entice him to think badly about his new found faith." Leviathan reported. Lucifer replied, " Get five of the demons in hell to accompany you. Stand watch over Joe. The angels would not be there forever. Amy couldn't be praying all the time. As soon as she stopped her prayers, the protection over Joe would disappear." "Yes, my Lord." Leviathan replied and flew away. Stupid, stupid angels! Lucifer thought in anger. They would never be a match for me, if not for Him. Raphael flew towards Michael. Michael and the other five angels looked at Raphael in surprise. "I just decide to drop by and say, 'hi' to all of you, since I just finished ministering healing to Miss Helen, next door." Raphael said. Michael and the five other angels smiled. "We were on duty to keep watch over the couple," one of the angels replied. "Do your best," Raphael smiled. "We are always at our best," Michael laughed. "I will be returning to heaven to report to God for my successful accomplishment of my mission." Raphael said. "See you again." An angel replied. Raphael laughed and flew away. None of the angels had spoken a word to Lucifer. Not a smile, not a laugh, not a joke. They had forgotten his existence, they had forgotten that he had once been their friend. Lucifer smiled as he noticed Gabriel hiding under a table, engrossed in the reading of a book. The archangel Gabriel was not aware of the presence of Lucifer. He was too deeply engrossed in his reading. Lucifer coughed, "Ahem." A look of dismay felt over the face of Gabriel as he put down his book. He came out from under the table. "You are the fifth angel I had caught." Lucifer laughed. "It is not fun playing hide and seek with you." Gabriel said. "You always managed to find us." Lucifer laughed. It was such an easy thing to find Gabriel. Gabriel was known to be obsessed with books. He was always looking into some deep mysteries of God. Therefore, his hiding place would always be a place where his passion lied. "Who is next on the list?" Gabriel asked. "Michael." Lucifer replied. "And where would he be?" Gabriel was curious. "That is for me to find out. You will join the other angels who had been caught at the garden where we first began playing this game." Lucifer replied. Gabriel flew away. Now, to find Michael, and the game would end. Lucifer thought to himself. Where would Michael be? His passion was sword-fighting, and so he would be hiding himself near a place where he could practice his sword skills. There are more than a thousand such places in heaven. Now, which of these places would he be in? No doubt a place where Michael thought Lucifer would not be looking into. Lucifer pondered through his mind the most likely places where Michael might think to hide himself in. The list of places where Michael might hide himself in, was reduced to a hundred places. Lucifer arranged the hundred places where Michael might be found, according to their probabilities. He flew to the first choice, which had a 80% chance of finding Michael. Michael wasn't there. He flew to the second and third choices in his list, but Michael wasn't in those places, either. Lucifer flew to the fourth, fifth and sixth choices, and still, he could not find Michael. Lucifer frowned. There was a limit to his intelligence. Even if he had been the most intelligent being that God had created, he could still make mistakes. Like he had done, now. It was not like God. He never makes a mistake. That was why no angel ever wanted to play hide and seek with God. God always managed to find the angels in His first attempt. It was not fun to play hide and seek with an omniscient being. Even Lucifer, tried as he might, with all his intellect, to find a spot where God would struggle to find him, was caught by God in God's first attempt. The angels all gave up playing hide and seek with God, and chose to play among themselves instead. Lucifer flew to his seventh choice. A smile filled his face, as he noticed Michael. Michael was playing with his sword on one of the trees. "Michael." Lucifer announced. Michael groaned, "How did you manage to find me?" Lucifer laughed, "That is my secret." "So, who will you find next?" Michael asked. He had sheathed his sword. "You are the last. Let's get back to the garden." Lucifer replied. Michael groaned, "Yet another Win for you." Lucifer and Michael flew to the garden where they had first started the game of hide and seek. The other five angels who had been caught were there and they were talking to The Son. The Son and the angels turned their attention to Michael and Lucifer when the two angels arrived in the garden. "Oh, my Lord," Michael began. "It is starting to become boring to play hide and seek with Lucifer." The Son laughed. "He always found us in the end," Gabriel added. The Son continued in His laughter. "It is not my fault for finding all of you," Lucifer protested. "I suppose, " The Son smiled. "You are going to 'ban' him from playing hide and seek like you had done with Me?" "Well... my Lord, none of us had a 90% Win rate like him. Heaven is so vast, and we often find ourselves not being able to find the other angels within the time limit." Raphael said. "Lucifer might be good, but there are still times when he is unable to find all of us." The Son laughed, "So I will continue to be the Only being in heaven, who is on the 'ban' list for hide and seek?" The angels laughed. Lucifer focused his thoughts back on Michael and the angels guarding Elijah. Stop thinking about the past, Lucifer rebuked himself. They weren't your friends. Not anymore. Lucifer resumed his hatred for Michael and the other holy angels. Chapter Five- Lucifer and evil Lucifer yawned. It was a big victory for him. Joe had given in to his temptation, and was attending the Satanic church again. He did it without informing Elijah. Being a Christian, Joe was not able to receive the same kinds of power he had, while he was a Satanist. Jesus did not answer his prayers for financial help, Jesus did not bless the business that he had. On the contrary, his sales suffered greatly since he became a Christian. A Satanist offered to support him in his business endeavor, if he would attend the Satanic church. Joe struggled for many days between whether to accept the Satanist's offer or to stay true to Jesus. The holy angels tried their best to lead Joe back to Jesus, but the lure of money was too much for Joe. Receiving his permission from God, Lucifer came personally to entice Joe to choose his business over Jesus. The angels battled with Lucifer but without the support of God, they were unable to overcome Lucifer. And God was not with them, because no one was praying for Joe. After Joe's victory over his past life, pastor Elijah and his wife had focused their attention to the Satanists who were not converted, and neglected their prayers for Joe. "My Lord, you were great. Can you see the faces of the angels when Joe began to attend the Satanic church again?" Leviathan laughed. "When you wanted to entice someone, Leviathan, you do it in a subtle manner." Lucifer replied. "Yes, my Lord." Leviathan replied. "You failed to entice Joe because you were too concerned with turning him away from Jesus. Such a hard sell rarely worked. Joe, who had been convinced of Jesus' presence, would not want to directly renounce Jesus. You were too direct in your attempt. You must be more subtle. Like suggesting to his mind that he could both be a Christian and a Satanist at the same time. Like what I did." Lucifer explained. "I will take note of your advise, my Lord." Leviathan replied. "Furthermore, you must study the person who you wanted to tempt. You must look at all his strengths and weaknesses. Joe's most major strength came from the prayer supports he received from the pastor's wife. The holy angels were able to protect and help Joe because someone was fervently praying for him. Instead of targeting Joe by wrestling with the holy angels, it would be wiser to lead the pastor's wife away from praying for Joe. Joe's most major weakness is his love of money. I was able to succeed in enticing Joe while you had failed in your attempt to do so because I made full use of my knowledge of Joe's strengths and weaknesses. I took away Joe's strength, and I magnified his weakness. In doing so, I was able to tempt the man away from his commitment to Jesus. Temptation, like every other discipline, is a skill. You must learn to master it, Leviathan." Lucifer said. "Your wisdom of the knowledge of evil is so great, my Lord. I do not think that we can ever beat you in it." Leviathan praised. Lucifer was silent. His knowledge of evil had not always been so great. Lucifer turned as The Son walked into the library. "Deep in thought?" The Son asked. Lucifer remained silent. "Won't you share with me what you are thinking about?" The Son asked. "My Lord, I am thinking about the opposite of goodness." Lucifer replied. "Or, to be exact, the absence of goodness." The Son was silent. "What would it be like if, my Lord, only if, we do not love each other?" Lucifer said. "For instance, what would it be like if I actually hurt Michael with the intention to do so?" There was a look of seemingly sadness in the eyes of the Son. But it was gone in a moment. "Lucifer, knowledge is a tool. If we use it in the right way, it will bear good fruits which we can all mutually enjoy. Yet, if we choose to put knowledge above all things, it will lead to the harm of ourselves and others." The Son said. Lucifer was silent. Can knowledge really be harmful? "The absence of goodness, which you are contemplating about now, is evil. I know all the knowledge of it but hate it with a passion." The Son said. "It is a path which I will not choose, and a knowledge which I will never use." Lucifer remained silent. So, The Son is aware of the absence of goodness. Why did He keep that knowledge to Himself? Is there something in that knowledge that might actually threaten Him? "Lucifer, remember what I said about the knowledge of evil." The Son said. "And its consequences." The Son walked out of the library. "My Lord, I will be going back to keep watch over Joe." Leviathan announced. Lucifer snapped back to the present reality. "Go, and if you ever meet the other demons, tell them about what I had just explained to you." Lucifer said. "Yes, my Lord." Leviathan replied. He flew away from hell, to go back to Earth. Lucifer reflected back on the words of Jesus. It is a path I will never choose, and a knowledge which I will never use. True to His words, Jesus never chooses the path of evil. Not even when He came down to earth as a mortal man. Not even when Lucifer showed him while he was weak in his flesh as a mortal man, what the power of evil could give to him. No matter how much Lucifer tempted Him, no matter how hard Lucifer tried to lead Him astray, Jesus always overcame his temptation. Was that why He was always so happy, even when things did not turn up right for Him? Because His heart was pure, and therefore, He did not ever have to feel any sense of guilt or condemnation? Lucifer, remember what I said about the knowledge of evil. And its consequences. Hate and condemnation and guilt laughed as they consumed Lucifer. It was too late for you now. Regret whispered into the ears of Lucifer. Evil danced in triumph. You choose to reject his warning and seek after me. You will now be my slave for life. Lucifer's eyes began to rain. Why didn't I listen to You? Chapter Six- Lucifer and his struggle "Master Satan had been behaving in a weird manner these past few days," Belial mumbled. "I notice that, too." Beelzebub declared. "He is often lost in thought," Leviathan added on. "And he wasn't his usual self. In the past, he would be gloating when he came back from the throne of God, after successfully obtaining his permission from the Most High to harm someone. Now, it was just silence." Asmodeus said. "Worst, I caught him referring to that accursed Nazarene Jesus as The Son." Abaddon announced. "The Son? Nobody used the term these days. Even the holy angels do not refer to Jesus as The Son anymore. Ever since He came down to earth as a man, the angels had changed the way they referred to Jesus. He is called The Lamb, The Lion, and many other names. 'The Son' is rarely used these days." Belial exclaimed. "But Master Satan referred to Jesus as The Son more than once in his conversation with me. For instance, he said to me, 'We must be careful of The Son and His plans for His church' and he also referred to Jesus as The Son when he told me to continue with my work of enticing Joe away from the church. 'Keep Joe away from The Son', his exact words." Leviathan said. "You don't suppose that Master Satan is losing his mind?" Asmodeus suggested. "Maybe. He had been reading out on the book of Revelation and the book of Jonah, lately. I had no idea why he would read the book of Jonah. But maybe reading the book of Revelation was driving him crazy." Abaddon suggested. "I could understand. I could never bring myself to read the book of Revelation." Belial mumbered. "The lake of fire was a scary thing to ponder about. Perhaps Master Satan had finally succumbed to that fear within him with regard to the final judgment." Beelzebub offered. Lucifer slipped away from his subordinates, as quietly as he had crept upon them. He did not mean to eavesdrop on their conversation. He was looking for Asmodeus, intending to assign him to promote the spread of abortions around the world. When he discovered that his subordinates were gossiping about him, he tried to make his presence as unnoticed as he could. So, they thought he was losing his mind. Maybe they were right. He had found himself thinking about the past lately. Curse that girl Elihua! Lucifer thought. She had put these stupid thoughts into me. In the book of Jonah, God proclaimed a judgment on the city. He declared through his prophet Jonah that he would destroy Ninevah for her evil deeds. The people of Ninevah repented and God changed His mind about the judgment He would send to Ninevah. In the book of Revelation, God proclaimed a judgment that would come on him. He declared through his servant John that He would send Lucifer to the lake of fire. Would God forgive him if he turn from his evil ways, like what the people of Ninevah had done? No, God wouldn't. Stop thinking about such stupid things, Lucifer thought angrily. Focus on what you could do to bring as many people down to hell as possible. He had went earlier to petition before God for God's permission to let him spread the number of abortions in the world. The angels were looking at him with glares in their eyes. They did not like to see him. Michael had been there, and he was glaring at Lucifer like the other angels. He had totally forgotten the hide and seek game they used to play together. Lucifer brought himself to ignore their glares, and to ignore the thought that they were once his friends. "Teenagers are toying with sex, and the adults are unfaithful towards their spouse. People are getting pregnant, without intending to do so. They want to abort their babies. Give me the permission to let them do so, and to further influence societies around the world to be more open towards the idea of abortion." Lucifer said. God looked at Lucifer, silently. And Lucifer hated it. I know, God's eyes seemed to boast, I know you had been thinking about me. Lucifer shifted uncomfortably under the stare of God. Stop looking at me, he wanted to shout, but he managed to keep his silence. "Give me the permission." Lucifer repeated himself. God looked at him. Come back to me, my Son. God's eyes seemed to plead. "Do what you will, Satan." God replied. Satan. The Accuser. The Adversary. That was what God called him now. Satan, and not Lucifer. God regarded him as an enemy. He must had imagined the pleading eyes of God. Lucifer shook away his thoughts. Lucifer went to his study room in hell. The study room contained all the books he had collected on all kinds of topic. It was an imitation of the library of heaven, which he used to have access to. Most of the books in the study room were written by Lucifer himself. Lucifer passed through the shelves of books on temptation, seduction, pride, hate, malice, condemnation, greed, gluttony, murder, and all other topics on all kinds of sin available in the world. He stopped for a moment when he saw the title, "My Former Relationship With The Most High". He shook his head and moved on to the shelf containing the book he was looking for. The history of the rebellion. Chapter Seven- The history of the rebellion Part One Lucifer was alone in the library of heaven. Ever since he first contemplated the absence of goodness, he had been coming to the library often. He had politely declined many games of hide and seek. Lucifer wanted to be alone, he wanted to think, and the library was the place when his thoughts could flow more freely. Lucifer had tried his best to avoid The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He was not really ignoring them, he merely needed some free time by himself. Lucifer had searched the whole library to see if he could find any book on the subject of evil. Yet, the books in the library were ignorant on that subject. There were books on all kinds of virtues in the library, but there was not a single book about evil. The absence of goodness, which you are contemplating about now, is evil. I know all the knowledge of it but hate it with a passion. The Son had claimed that He knew all the knowledge of evil. Then, why did He hide that knowledge? Why wasn't there a single book on that knowledge here? Lucifer was frustrated about the lack of information on the subject of evil. That oppressive tyrant. Lucifer shook his head. What was it that he just thought to call Him? An oppressive tyrant. Now, that was an absence of praise. Lucifer smiled as he further pondered over the absence of praise. Stupid fool. Selfish idiot. Lucifer laughed. The absence of praise was fun. Now, he would call this absence of praise blasphemy. Lucifer began to come out with more names he could use to refer to God, and he was amazed by his new found freedom. When he was tired of blaspheming against Him in his thoughts, he began to actually say out his blasphemies in words. God did not know everything. Or He would have stopped me from what I am doing. Lucifer thought to himself. What would be the absence of love? Ha, it would be hate. Lucifer tried to hate God. It was difficult at first, but he managed to do it after some attempts. He extended this hate to the other angels, and then eventually to himself. He was delighted in his new found freedom. What was freedom after-all, if you could only love, and not hate? Lucifer began to think of all the other absences. The absence of self-control. The absence of mercy. The absence of kindness. And all other absences. He smiled as he pondered only the absence of worship and humility. That would be pride and self-worship. What would it be like if he no longer worship God, but chose to worship himself? Ha, that would be a great freedom. He would not have to bow before that oppressive tyrant. Lucifer began to worship himself. I am so beautiful. I am so clever. I am the smartest angel that ever exist. Lucifer laughed. The absence of goodness is fun. It was such a liberating knowledge. Why didn't He share this knowledge? A pang of guilt came over Lucifer. He had been so good to me. Condemnation smiled as it began to conquer Lucifer. Lucifer wondered how he could ever bring himself to look into the eyes of Him after what he had just done. Maybe I should just give up what I am doing and go and apologize to Him? Hate and Love battled with each other. They began with a gentle match, which accumulated into a full-time wrestle. Lucifer was torn by their all-out warfare. Before I embarked on this journey to seek out the absence of goodness, Love had always been the winner. Hate was never in existence. And I love Him so. Lucifer thought to himself. And Love smiled as it gain a momentary victory over hate. No. He was wrong to keep the knowledge of evil from me. How could I be truly free if I could only think about virtues and Him? Lucifer thought, angrily. I would not give up my new found freedom. With his free-will, Lucifer supported hate, and crushed out Love. Love wept as it fled away in silence. Hate grinned in victory, and embraced Lucifer. Lucifer smiled. I hate Him. He continue to worship himself. I am more powerful than any other angels. I am the first angel that He created to discover the absence of goodness. I am the first angel to embrace the path of evil. I am better than even Him. The evil which He had no courage to embrace, I accept as my tool. Lucifer smiled. Self-worship was great. But, wouldn't it be good if others would realize how great he was as well? What if other angels would turn their heads away from worshiping God to worship Lucifer? Lucifer laughed as he imagined a host of angels bowing and falling prostrate before him. Maybe that was why He choose to keep the knowledge of evil to himself. He was afraid of Lucifer, of what Lucifer could do with the knowledge of evil. I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. I will be the new God. God would try to stop Lucifer. That would be for sure. If Lucifer hoped to be the new God of the universe, Lucifer would need to rebel against Him. And to do that, he would need allies. Yes, he must persuade some of the other angels to join him in his cause. Alone by himself, he would never be a match for God. But if he had allies, he might possibly win in his battle against God. The Holy Spirit came to visit Lucifer. Lucifer, you ought to be spending time with the other angels and with Us. Lucifer felt his pang of guilt returning, again. "Holy Spirit, I want to be alone." You had not been active in the composing of the new songs in heaven. We had not worked together to compose new songs for a long time. The Holy Spirit whispered, gently. Should we work together to compose a new song now? Lucifer felt like confessing everything to Him just then. He felt like telling The Holy Spirit what he had done- how he had blasphemed Him and entertained thoughts of rebellion against Him. Love and Hate battled again, within him. "I want to be alone." Lucifer repeated. Hate smiled in triumph as Love reluctantly went away. Lucifer, evil corrupts and destroys all who will walk in its path. The Holy Spirit whispered. Then, The Holy Spirit was gone. And Lucifer was alone, again. He knows. Lucifer thought to himself. He knows my plans. Don't listen to him. Evil whispered. He doesn't know. Remember how you blasphemed against him earlier. If He knows, He will rebuke you. You had talked to The Son about your contemplation of evil. The Son must have told The Holy Spirit about your contemplation. Lucifer smiled. He doesn't know. It was a mere coincident. Lucifer began to explore in his minds all the ways he could use to persuade the other angels to join him in his cause. Evil laughed. Chapter Eight- The history of the rebellion Part Two "Er... I had been thinking over what you had said," Beelzebub confided in him. Lucifer was surprised. He had totally given up on his plan to overthrow the Most High. When he first subtly hinted to the other angels of his plan, the responses from the other angels were that of horror and disgust. Michael had even took him aside and rebuke him loudly. "I know, Lucifer, you like to joke. But this matter of rebellion is not something you can make a joke of!" None of the angels he had spoken to seemed interested in the idea of rebellion. So Lucifer had put off the idea publicly and entertained the idea only in his own mind. To keep God and the other angels from being suspicious of him, Lucifer had resumed his worship of the Most High, and had joined the other angels in their games. But somehow, nothing was the same as before. He just could not find the same joys as he used to do when he was with God or the other angels. When he looked at God, he always imagined it was himself. He was the one at the throne. He was the one who the other angels adored. He, and not that stupid tyrant! "You took months to think over what I had said," Lucifer said. "I... I found the idea... disturbing. The Most High, if you know what I mean, had always... well... been the Most High," Beelzebub stammered. "I know what you mean," Lucifer replied. "I found the thought frightening, too, at first. But eventually, I exulted in my new found freedom." "Yes... Lucifer, you are right." Beelzebub said. "I thought about what you said, about me being my own god, about me... speaking negatively of Him, and only having to pay homage to you, about you sharing your powers with me... I thought about it... and that idea … just would not go away." "So you had decided to join me?" Lucifer asked. "In a way, yes. But I needed to know more of your plans." Beelzebub replied. "My plan will be kept to myself. Right now, you are the only angel who is interested. The plan will have to hold off unless there are more angels who are interested in gaining freedom for themselves." Lucifer replied. "If you will pardon me, I have to prepare the worship song for today." "Lucifer, I had talked with other angels about this. We had discussed it, over and over, again. And Leviathan, Asmodeus, Abaddon and Belial agreed that we needed to hear more of your plan before we could decide if we wanted to join you." Beelzebub stated. "You meant that there are other angels beside yourself who is interested?" Lucifer asked, keenly. "Yes," Beelzebub replied. Lucifer smiled, "I will get back to you, shortly. After I had polished my plan to perfection." "Sure," Beelzebub replied and left. Lucifer laughed. It was not a complete failure! His mind began to explore all the ways he and the other angels could take in their rebellion towards Him. His thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of The Son. The Son walked to Lucifer. "Have you prepared the worship song for today, yet?" The Son asked, His beautiful eyes were glazing at Lucifer. No matter how often he had tried to harden his heart towards the 'evil dictator', a pang of guilt always come to Lucifer when he was in His presence. "I was just about to prepare the song," Lucifer replied. The Son nodded His head and went to take hold of Lucifer's right hand. "I am looking forward to the song." The Son smiled. I wanted to rebel against you. Do not be so kind to me. Lucifer wanted to scream. But he managed to compose himself. "I hope You like my song." Lucifer replied. "It will take all my efforts to make my song. My song will be the best song that I had come up with." The Son laughed. "You had used a lot of the word, 'my'. It almost seemed as if the song was for you and not for Us." Lucifer blushed. "I mean... I hope you will like the song that I had composed." For a moment, all thoughts of rebellion fled. The Son is so beautiful to be with. His laughter is such a joy to see. But then, Lucifer thought about himself being the source of worship, and the joy he had felt towards being with The Son disappeared. Instead, Envy and Jealousy bombarded him. You are so right, Mr. Dictator. My song should be about me. It should be for me. The Son was silent. He seemed to be in deep contemplation. "I have always loved every song you compose, Lucifer." He replied, after a moment of silence. "I will continue to love all your previous songs... even if you shall decide never to sing for me again." "It is my honor to sing to you," Lucifer lied. The Son looked at him with a contemplative look, again. "I love you, Lucifer." The Son said. "Remember this even when I cease to tell you so." The Son let go of Lucifer's hand and walked away. Lucifer stared after the disappearing back of The Son. Hate radiated from within him. Jealousy and envy danced vibrantly. Curse you, curse you, curse you. Your worship should have been mine. The song of worship that he would be leading the other angels to sing before Him would have to wait. Lucifer crushed the pang of guilt under his feet and actively thought through his plan of rebellion. Chapter Nine- The history of the rebellion Part Three Lucifer's heart pounded in fear. It had been pounding non-stop in fear since the beginning of the 'gathering'. With the help of Beelzebub, Belial, Leviathan, Asmodeus and Abaddon, Lucifer had managed to persuade other high ranking angels to be participants with him in what would be the ultimate rebellion. These high ranking angels, had persuaded other angels to join Lucifer and Lucifer had one third of the angels of heaven with him now. The angels wanted to know more about Lucifer's plan, so Lucifer had sent them a message to secretly gather in an obscure park, under the pretext of organizing a surprise worship session for the Most High. If other angels, those fools that would not hear of the rebellion plan would chance upon them, Lucifer would lie that they were merely preparing a worship song for the Creator. Lucifer scanned the faces of the host of angels that wanted to rebel against their maker. Their faces showed signs of nervousness and uncertainty. Like him, they must have struggled with guilt and they must have wrestled with love. Like him, hate and pride must have won the battle and that was why they were now willing to rebel against Him. Lucifer had promised them power and glories, especially to the smarter and more higher ranking angels. Most importantly, he promised them freedom- the freedom to be who they wanted to be, outside of the will of God. If they succeeded in this rebellion, they could choose to use their gifts and talents for themselves and would no longer be subjected to using their abilities for Him. What freedom they would have if they succeeded! Belial could be the artist he always wanted to be, he could paint arts after himself, without having to use his artistic talent to please the Most High. Beelzebub could be the leader he always wanted to be, the leader of himself, without having to subject himself anymore to the Most High, and having only to pay a small homage to Lucifer. Asmodeus, Leviathan and Abaddon could all fulfill their innermost dream. And him, Lucifer, he would be God. He would be the new God of the universe. Finally, it would be the other angels composing songs to please him, instead of him being the slave that had to compose songs to worship the Most High. "Some of you have been wondering... how could we succeed in this rebellion when we are outnumbered, two to one." Lucifer began. The angels looked at him with intense concentration. "But you think too lowly of me, if you think I will be hindered by such small obstruction. Yes, you think too lowly of me, indeed." Lucifer continued. Pride was angry. How dare these angels doubt him, doubt his intelligence, doubt his capabilities? "Indeed, if we are to fight against the other angels, we will be outnumbered. There will be two angels for every one of us. We will not be able to win such a war." Lucifer exclaimed. The angels' eyes stared at him. "But what if... we choose not to attack those fools that still want to be loyal to Him? What if we choose to attack Him, and Him alone?" Lucifer declared. The angels gasped. And Lucifer smiled. "Yes, that is what we will do. Tomorrow, the moment I begin my worship song, 'I will serve you, God, forever' , you will all charge at Him and attack Him. He is one being, we are countless. He will not be able to withstand the attacks of so many beings at the same time. We will kill Him, I will take His throne, and with Him gone, those fools that still want to be loyal to Him will have no one to be loyal to anymore. And they will surrender to us." There were a mixture of expressions on the faces of the angels. Clearly, they were not expecting this! Some of the angels were excited by the prospect that God would be killed. Others seemed hesitant. They wanted freedom, but they were not ready to take such an extreme measure as to actually kill the God who had given them lives. Regardless of how they were feeling, one thing was evident. All of the angels that were with Lucifer were willing to carry out the plan. They might not like the plan, they might love the plan, but they would carry it out regardless of how they felt. Lucifer arranged the army of angels that were with him, into hierarchies, in order to be more efficient in the attacks against God tomorrow. He gave ranks to the wiser angels, and put army of lower ranking angels to submit to the wiser angels. And at the top of his army, he appointed Beelzebub, Abaddon, Belial, Leviathan and Asmodeus. The five of them would hold the top commanding posts of his army. They would give the order to attack, and they would be the commanders of high ranking angels, given the name of 'princes' and these 'princes' would in turn be commanders of the middle ranking angels known as 'principalities' and the 'principalities' would be in turn commanders of the lower ranking angels. By organizing his army into hierarchies, Lucifer knew that the attacks on God would be more efficient, and it would ensure their success in the rebellion. After organizing the army, Lucifer gave instructions to the top 5 angels of his on what to do, if unexpected scenario occurred. He went through a list of possible circumstances, and gave the 5 angels his instructions on how to deal with them. In one such scenario, Lucifer foresaw that some of God's angels might still try to resist them, after they had killed God. In such a situation, his 5 angels would kill the resisting angels. But not all of them. Just the higher ranking and stronger angels. The lesser ranking angels would surrender when they saw that they could not be a match to Lucifer's angels. And Lucifer's angels would win in the rebellion because they had what God's angels didn't have- they have evil. And so they could be ruthless, cruel, merciless,while God's angels would always be bound by their virtues. After going through the plan of rebellions with his angels, Lucifer dismissed them to be alone by himself. He went to the library, with a harp he took from one of the musical instruments' room. The fear was gone. There was some kind of excitement at what would happen tomorrow. Excitement at the fact that he would soon be the new god of the universe. But Lucifer suppressed that excitement. He held onto the harp and began to sit on one of the chairs in the library. He began to play at the harp. My last tribute to You. Excitement fled, as tears fell from Lucifer's eyes. After tomorrow, he would not be able to see his maker anymore. And in spite of how attractive the idea of being the new god was, needles were piercing at his heart. Piercing non-stop. Good-bye, my maker. Guilt laughed mercilessly. Epilogue -A decision to Make The rebellion had been a failure. Lucifer could never had predicted that he would fail, but he did fail and he was cast out of his home paradise, as a result of the worst mistake he had ever makes. Th past memory is now a pain to him. He can no longer enjoy the sweet harmony he used to have. Regret and sorrow and guilt constantly nagged at him while he used to hear the sweet talk peace and joy had given to him. Why am I thinking of the past? Lucifer thought to himself. All that lied for me is the burning lake of fire written in revelation. Leviathan flew to Lucifer. "Bad news. Joe had returned to being a christian, and he had managed to convince his satanist friends to join him." Leviathan replied. Lucifer groaned. Pathetic fools and pathetic failures! This is too much. I will petition for the life of Elijah Green and Joe. They are a threat to me. Lucifer flew towards heaven with the intention of petitioning before God. Hatred and anger urged him to show the christian pastor and his satanist convert no mercy. At the gate of heaven, Jesus stood still and would not let him entered. "I have the right to petition God over anything." Lucifer sneered at Jesus. "Lucifer…" Jesus began. Lucifer blinked his eyes. Jesus had just called him by his name. Jesus had called him 'Lucifer' and not 'Satan'. Tears forced their ways out of his eyes in an uncontrollable manner. Oh… how he wanted to hold the hand of the Son of God and apologized for his mistake! Give me a chance, he wanted to scream. But it must all be all illusion. "I have the right to petition God over anything." Lucifer stated, coldly. "I wanted to show you to someone, Satan." Jesus said. Satan, again , and not Lucifer. He must have misheard, earlier. "Go ahead. Show me." Lucifer said. Who could the Son of God wanted to show to him? He followed the Son of God into heaven and froze when he saw the girl he had killed. Elihua. The daughter of Elijah. "I had kept my promise. I had prayed for you. Would you repent now?" The girl smiled. It was too much for Lucifer to bear. Lucifer fled away from Jesus, from the girl, into hell. He can never be able to repent now, or can he? The girl's words rang non-stop in his ears. The book of Jonah. The book of Jonah. The book of Jonah was the only book that could challenge the book of revelation. It was the only book, his only hope. Lucifer wept. His top ranking demons flew to him. "Why are you crying, our master?" Beelzebub asked. "I am thinking of Him." Lucifer burst out in tears. "Who?" Asmodeus asked. "The God that made us." Lucifer confessed, unable to control his guilt anymore. "I had thought of him, too." Belial cried. "As did me." Leviathan howled. "But it is too late for us, isn't it?" Abaddon questioned. "I am not sure. The girl that I killed told me that the book of Jonah could challenge the book of revelation." Lucifer confessed. "But would he be willing to forgive us? Would the christians allowed Him to pardon us?" Asmodeus asked. "That is no harm in trying to get back his forgiveness, "Lucifer replied. "I truly missed Him." "Let get all the demons together and we will pray." Beelzebub suggested. "Pray for what?" Belial asked. "Repentance on our parts and forgiveness on His part." Beelzebub replied. "And if He will never forgive us?" Leviathan asked. "Then we just simply accept the hell we create for ourselves when we choose to so cruelly seek to overthrow Him." Asmodeus smiled. Lucifer laughed. He was joyful, now. Truly joyful. God, forgive me. Whether you send me in hell or not, whether revelation happened or not, my heart is at peace. I believe now what You said about evil and I will be her slave no more. Somewhere far away, Elihua, the child who Lucifer had killed laughed. Evil screamed as Lucifer kicked her away. Goodness laughed and embraced Lucifer again. "My name is Lucifer, and I will be his light-bearer." Lucifer announced. The name Satan wept as it realized it had lost control of Lucifer. Lucifer was, and is, and will now always be God's beloved son

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13) The sea was so beautiful. She loved the music of the waves splashing to and fro, she loved to look at the sea whenever she felt that the sorrow within her was about to swallow her. "You must be there, somewhere… …" she uttered, softly to herself. "Why… why did you make me?" The sea splashed to and fro, it gave her a soothing feeling, a temporal comfort that eased away the meaninglessness of the daily routine of life and the needle-like pain that just would not disappear away from that fragile heart of hers. "You must be very big," she smiled to herself. "I know you must be, or you won't be able to make the sea." The moon stared from the night sky, wondering why a girl would be alone by herself at the beach near East Coast Park at a time when every school girl and boy ought to be asleep at home. "Who are you?" She took a step towards the sea, into the shallowness of the water. "I will find up soon enough. I am tired… of this pathetic life of mine." Two steps, three steps, four steps, five steps, farther and farther into the sea she went. "You are a failure in society." The scream of Math's teacher, Mrs. Ho. "You are hopeless." The sigh of her mother. "Why aren't you like the other sisters out there in the world?" The disappointment of her younger sister. The red marks in her examination scripts. The loneliness during lessons in school. Nerds, she heard her classmates laughed secretly behind her back. A pathetic life. Needle-like pains pierced through her heart, pains she could not understand, pains that would not go away. Into the water she went, deeper and deeper. Her face began to rain. She never understood the water that raced slowly down from her eyes. Needle-like pains. The sea water was happy to dance around her waist. He… seemed to be there somewhere, somewhere beyond the night sky, somewhere in a galaxy far away. Who is he? Why did he make her, only to abandon her, to a cruel and hopeless world that did not want her? She wished she could hear his voice, once, just once, to know that he is real, to know that he is not a figment of men's imagination, to find up that there is a purpose, a reason behind why he made such a pathetic third class human being like her. The sea water licked to and fro at her neck, some of them trying to reach up to her nostril to no avail. Soon, she will disappear away into the sea, into the night sky, and the unhappy faces and angry voices that never left her would finally cease from her memories forever. "I love you, Zhui Mei." Something spoke into her mind. Huh? "Is that you, God?" She exclaimed. There was no answer. There was no more noise in her mind. Was that her imagination, or… was it from him? She continued to walk into the deeper part of the sea water. What was it like to have life extinguished? "I love you, Zhui Mei. I love you, Zhui Mei." This time, whoever it was spoke twice into her mind. "You didn't want me to die, God?" There was no reply, again. It was pure silence. But somehow, her desire to end her life wavered. Perhaps, it wasn't her imagination that spoke to her. Perhaps, there was still someone… whoever he may be… someone who did not think that she was a failure, someone who did not felt that this was a life that was cheap and worthless. Someone who could see some worth in an otherwise, unworthy subhuman. "I hate my life!" She burst into tears as she walked towards the beach, away from the deeper part of the sea. "No one likes me, no one wants me, no one cares if I live or die, no one thinks I am worth anything at all." He, nobody in particular, appeared to be listening. The only person in the universe who bothered to listen to the rants of a third class citizen among the people around her. As "he" listened to her, she poured out all of her life frustrations unto his shoulders, and a heavy load was somehow lifted off from her for that little moment. Sigh, if only he was real and not her imagination.

It was night. Late at night. She was sitting there, alone. Everyone had gone home. But she was still there, alone. The brown box which contained her father was there with her. The accursed brown box. The final bed of her father. Her father. The one she loved. He lied there, in the accursed brown box, asleep. He would never wake, again. She sobbed. “Oh, God…” The crickets were singing at a distance, nearby, oblivious, indifferent to the piercing pain that numbed her. How selfish they were! Didn’t they know that she had just lost her father… forever? “Oh, God…” The Taoist priest had chanted loudly during the funeral. He was opening the way for her father to journey into his new after-life. She wished he wasn’t the one to conduct her father’s funeral. “Oh, God…” She held tightly to her cross. So tightly it bit into her palm. Red liquid flowed. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one came to the Father except through me.” These words, they had always been her comforts. What joy they had been to her when her eyes were first enlightened to the reality of His love and she took that first step to accept Him into her life. Yet, these were the words that were piercing her, now. Repeatedly, cruelly, again, and again. “Please accept Jesus, Daddy,” she pleaded, at the sick bed of her father.“I love you, my child, but I am a staunch Taoist.” He was determined that he did not need Him, until the end. Why was he so stubborn? “Oh, God…” She wanted to scream, she wanted to shout, she wanted to do something to stop that burning pain within. Why didn’t He save her father, why didn’t He? “My father, is he going to be in hell?” “God has a purpose for everything, Shu Mei.” “Cut that out, pastor, tell me the truth!” “Shu Mei, I am sorry.” “Idiot.” “It is a sin to say that.” “Oh, shut up!” They will never understand. They are from Christian homes, Christian families. All their loved ones, all their relatives are Christians. What do they know of her pains? “I will change place with my father if I can. I will take his place. Oh, God, I really will. Where is my father, now?” He disappeared. He never spoke a word to her. She knew the answer to her question. She didn’t want an answer. She sobbed. “My God, my God, why had you forsaken me!” She screamed. The red liquid fell from her palm like rain-drop to merge with the puddle of her tears that formed on the ground. She was oblivious to a shadow that stood behind her. He had been there for a long time. He had never stirred. His right hand was placed on her shoulder, hand that made the star, hand that was pierced on the cross, but hand that could do nothing to alter the free-will of someone who chose to reject Him. The tears that fell from His face and the words that He longed to say were shut off from her eyes and ears. But it did not matter. He stayed there with her. It was night. Late at night. She was sitting there, confused. Everyone had gone home. But she was still there, in pain. It rained. She was not alone. He was sobbing.

She was not here. The sanctuary was filled with man and women, boys and girls, people from every racial background. The worship leaders were standing on stage, preparing to lead the crowd that had entered into the The Church of Our Savior for worship. “Everyone, are you ready to worship the King?” the main worship leader for the day shouted into his microphone. The people resounded with joyous “yes”. The worship began. The music instruments were right, the people’s voice resounded together in harmony, it was a wonderful worship experience. I felt like I was connected into this body called the church of God, singing with the people in the crowd, singing with the saints and angels in heaven. I could hear in my mind the beautiful voices of the angel joining us in worship of the King of kings. How wonderful, how great it is to be in His presence. I wanted to remain here, forever, to praise and worship Him for all eternity. But something bugged me. It ruined my wonderful moment of worship. It destroyed a little bit of that joy I had, worshipping Him here in the presence of His saints. She was not here, she was not here, she was not here. The voice nagged at me, again and again. It gave me no peace. She, Wang Yi Hui, had not been here today. She was not here last week. Or the week before. Or the month before. Or months before.She was one of the most joyous people; she was always the one to give her best in worshipping the Lord. She was always at the front row; she was always so absorbed in her worship of Him that she became oblivious to everything else. But she was not here, today. I tried to forget her absence, I tried to forget her. People fell away from the church, often. Why should I let the absence of a mere lady affected me in my joy of worshipping Him who save me? But the voice refused to let me off. She was not here, she was not here, she was not here. It was almost as if someone was sobbing, someone was crying within my heart. Someone missed her. She was not here, someone cried. I could not take the nagging voice, anymore. It was affecting me in a greater manner than I wanted it to. I got out of the sanctuary, and went to the toilet to take a break from the worship. I wanted a break from the nagging voice that bugged me. Her son died in a car accident, I heard. He was unsaved. No one had bothered to attend his funeral, he happened to die on Christmas and no one wanted to spoil their joyous mood by attending the funeral of the son of a woman they hardly knew. Was that when she stopped attending the service? Was that when her joyous dance and beautiful voice began to disappear from our church? She was not here, she was not here, she was not here. The nagging voice followed me on and on. It was almost like a cry from somebody who missed her lively dance, her beautiful voice. I went into one of the cubicles in the toilet. A vision of a past event flashed before my eyes. It was a time when Yi Hui and I were at the house of another Christian sister, to enjoy some moments of female fellowship. We were trying to piece together a set of jigsaw puzzle that had the face of Jesus. We worked for hours, it was a difficult puzzle. We almost completed the face of Jesus. Almost. One puzzle was missing, it was lost somehow, and we could not complete the jigsaw puzzle. The other 999 pieces were there, but this 1 missing piece made the face of Jesus incomplete. I burst into tears inside the cubicle. He was the one crying. He was crying for His 1 missing puzzle. Corporate worship was not complete unless she was here. But she was not here, today. I repented of my sins for not being there with her last Christmas when her son passed away, and I prayed for her to come back. I wanted to dance and worship Him together with her.

Ah Soh knew in his heart that his birthday was important. He would be 50 years old. His friend came into his tiny one room flat. Ah Soh was not the kind of person to host a party. He did not have the money! For him, whatever little money he earned as a coffee shop assistant was just enough to make end meets. On some of the occassions, he could not even meet his end meets. On such occassions, he needed to seek financial and material help from his church. Fortunately for him, his church members were still quite ready to help Ah Soh tide through his difficult moments. Ah Soh wanted to be a pastor. He wanted to preach for Jesus so much, so much. But he was not born during biblical times. In those days, anyone could be a pastor. Peter and most of Jesus' disciples were uneducated people! In Singapore, a person needed to attend a bible college to be able to preach, officially. Ah Soh could not be a pastor. He was not smart in his studies. He failed his PSLE. Going to a bible college was an impossible dream for him. Still, Ah Soh wanted to tell his friends about Jesus. All his uneducated friends. All of them who spoke Hokkien like him. All of them who could not speak proper english. So he saved up his money, little by little. He cut down on his food. He wore the same clothe, year after year, without buying new ones. He walked to his church instead of taking buses. He tried his best to cut down on his transport cost. Finally, he had just enough money to host a birthday party. And that was what he did. "Ah Soh, happy birthday!" His friends greeted him one by one. When all of his friends were in his house and they were done with eating, Ah Soh got them to sit in a circle. He spoke about Jesus passionately to his friends. He spoke on and on, ignoring the occassional mockeries that came from his unbelieving friends. His friends left his home, seemingly unchanged and unmoved. But in Jesus' eyes, unknowingly to Ah Soh or the church in Singapore, Jesus saw a pastor. This pastor was uneducated. This pastor could only speak in Hokkien. This pastor did not win a single soul. This pastor preached only 1 sermon during his entire life for Jesus. Still, in Jesus' eyes, he saw and smiled at pastor Soh.

Adam smiled as he looked at his beautiful wife, Eve. What a treasure she was to him, a companion of companion. He could still remember how inadequate he felt when every animal was there but God had not yet created Eve. Eve was the best gift God had given to him. Eve was everything to him, Eve made him feel complete. Now, he had the most wonderful of helper to help him manage this garden which God had put him in. "Honey, what are you thinking?" Eve asked as she handed a bunch of grapes to Adam. "Of you, sweetie." Adam smiled. Grapes! Just the kind of fruits he like. Tasty, mouth-watering, simply wonderful! Is there ever an end to God's goodness? Life was a bliss for them. Adam was glad that Eve and himself never listened to the serpent. They never took of the fruit of tree of knowledge of good and evil, and therefore, did not bring about the death if God spoke of. It was a close shave, though. Both Adam and Eve were very tempted to taste the fruit that would make them like God. It was a very close shave, indeed. "I was wondering, if we had took of the fruit God had forbidden us to, what would have happened?" Eve asked, as if she could read Adam's mind. "Don't think of such things. Nothing good comes out of disobedience towards God and everything good comes out of obedience towards him." Adam replied, as he looked in contentment at his wife. "You are right, my darling."Eve smiled. For Adam and Eve, life is a bliss and a paradise. And that is because they choose to obey God above all else.

Once upon a time, there was a girl. Her name was Snow Black. She was neither beautiful nor attractive. Her mother died when she was a very young child. As a result of that, her father decided to marry another woman and she became the step mother of the child Snow Black. The step mother of Snow Black was a vicious and wicked woman. Despite the fact that the child was not born to be beautiful, or attractive, she was jealous of the father's occasional attention to the young lady of 16 years old. Yet, Snow Black was never hateful towards her step mother. No matter how cruelly her step mother treated her, Snow Black was always ready to repay her step mother back with love. One day, while Snow Black was out on a trip to the forest to save little rabbits from being preyed by cruel hunters, her stepmother bribed the bodyguard of Snow Black to kill the young lady in the forest. The bodyguard needed the money the queen gave to him to take care of his elderly parents, who were suffering from serious illness. However, he could not bring himself to kill a lady, who even though, she was not good looking, had a beautiful heart. Therefore, he told Snow Black the truth and pleaded with her to flee far away from her cruel step mother. When he returned home to the queen, he lied to her that the girl was dead. Snow Black walked through the forest and came into contact with a house. She went into the house and was astonished by the 7 beds that were so small, that she had to join them together as a bed before she could rest in them. Feeling tired, she chose to sleep in the bed, but was awakened in the evening by loud voices. She awoke, to find that she was all tied up. 7 dwarfs were staring hard into her face. Their faces were full of scars. They appeared to be dwarfs, who were well-acquainted with the hardness of life. There were no mercies in their eyes. "What are you doing with our beds?" The dwarfs demanded. Their tones were cold. "Please... please forgive me... I am only resting here because I thought no one stayed in this place... and I was so tired." Snow Black's tone was full of fear. "Ho ho... so you thought, huh, that, you could take this house for yourself just because no one stayed here? Well, for your crime, you would be our slaves for life." The verdicts of the dwarfs were hard. They were not moved even when the young lady broke down and told them her own sad story of how her own step mother was out to plot her life. This was a hard world. People were hard to them. They received from no mercy from this hard world, and they chose to give none in return to a victim who was more victimized by the hard world than themselves. But Snow Black was a girl of a most beautiful heart. Instead of begrudging and hating her captors for being so hard towards her, she chose to repay their evil with kindness. She gave her best to all the works which her captor had given her to do, and she was tender and kind to them. Even though she had many opportunities to escape from her captors, she chose to stay behind and take good care of them. Soon, she won a place in the hearts of the 7 dwarfs and was looked upon, secretly, by them as a mother figure. Just when her life was getting better with the dwarfs, her evil step mother found out about the fact that she was not dead. It was through a slip of the mouth of that bodyguard of hers. Apparently, he drank too much wine and in his drunken state, he unintentionally revealed to the step mother about the fact that Snow Black was still alive. You would think that the evil, vicious woman would forget all about killing her step daughter, because the young lady could not possibly be a threat to her anymore, now that she was separated from her father. But that was not to be the case. The jealousy of the evil queen was so great, that she would not allow the girl to live, simply because there were moments in the queen's time with the king, where the king was so obsessed with the loss of his precious child, that he totally ignored the queen. So, she disguised herself as an old woman after some of her servants that she sent out to trace the whereabouts of Snow Black returned to her with the report of seeing her living together with 7 dwarfs somewhere in the forest. Snow Black was at home alone by herself when the evil queen came. She was deceived into thinking that the evil queen was a poor beggar who had no place to go to, and being kind-hearted, she let the evil queen came into her house. The moment the evil queen came into the house, she took out a knife and stabbed Snow Black 6 times in what she thought was the heart of the young lady. The young lady had no chance before her wicked stepmother. She fell to the ground, gasping in pain as the blood began to flow out of her. Laughing wickedly, the evil queen left the house, leaving the lady to die a slow death alone by herself. By the time the 7 dwarfs returned to the house, the young lady was dead. There was no breath in her body. Her body felt like ice to the dwarfs. The dwarfs were hard men. Hard men shed blood, but never shed tears. Yet, when they saw Snow Black lying there, still and unmoving, with a body that was cold like ice, they broke down and cried. "Snow Black, Snow Black, return to us!" Their tears were in vain. The world was hard and uncaring. It was cold, and no one would be there to listen to the cries of 7 scar-faced men, who had never in their lives received any mercy from anyone except the tender-hearted lady they were not merciful to. In sorrow, they built a flower bed for the lady that was like a mother to them. A lady, who was not beautiful in any way, physically, and yet was the most beautiful of women to the hearts of these 7 hard men whose lives were touched by her. Their sobbing drew the attention of a prince who was not of the same world as themselves. He came from a galaxy far beyond the hard world that the 7 dwarfs were accustomed to, in a world where there was only love, mercy, kindness and goodness. He was the prince and would be King of that beautiful place, the Paradise. He listened to the story of the 7 crying dwarfs, and was moved by the beauty of the young lady. He was attracted and drawn to her, not because of her physical appearance but because of her beautiful heart, that was loving, kind, merciful and tender. He looked at the pale, white face of the girl who was dead for quite a few hours, and the wound in her heart that was pierced there cruelly by the one she trusted in and loved. Tears of compassion fell from his eyes as he thought of the agony the young lady had to go through just before she died; the pain that must be so excruciating to the lady, left there by a someone she was trying to be kind to. "Do not die, most beautiful of women," said the prince as he whispered into the ear of the breathless girl. "You must live because I want you to be my queen." The prince was born with a special kind of blood, a blood that could heal the most deadly of wounds. In his love for the young lady, he stabbed the dagger into his very own heart and as he was dying, allowed his blood to flow into the wounded heart of the tender-hearted lady. Every drop of his blood into the broken heart of Snow Black brought back to her a beat from her broken heart. Every dying breath of the prince as he sacrificially gave his own life for her brought back to her dead and still body her breath. The prince gave up his life so that a young lady who was wounded in her heart by someone she loved and trusted could rise up from her grave. With every blood shed to redeem the life of a broken-hearted girl, the broken heart of the girl began to beat, again. With every breath that he gave out for the young lady in his sacrifice, the nose of the dead girl started to breathe again. As Snow Black's eyes began to open, she saw the smile of the dying prince before her. "You are a good-hearted girl. You deserve to live. Do not die. I want you to be my Queen." He collapsed into the arms of the revived girl, who had heard all that he had spoken even while she was dead, and who had felt his blood gushing into her body healing her wounds. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked at the prince that chose to die so that she might live, again. "Why... why did you die for someone like me?" Tears fell from her eyes as she looked at the prince that chose to die so that she might live, again. No one had sacrificed for her before. It was always she who was sacrificing for other people. No one had ever loved her so deeply. Yet, this prince, this prince from a faraway country, from paradise, came and fell in love with her. He said she was the most beautiful of women and he wanted to take her home with him as his queen. He traded his life and shed his blood so that her wounded heart, pierced into pieces by the betrayal of the one she loved could beat, again. His blood healed the hole in her heart and brought life back into a young lady that would, otherwise, be dead. Tears flowed from Snow Black's eyes as she stared into the dead body of the prince. The hole in his heart was so much bigger, so much wider than what was previously there in that heart of hers. It was there because of His love. "Don't die, my handsome prince. How can I be your Queen, if you are dead?" The tears of the princess woke the prince up from His slumber, and instantly, the handsome prince was transformed into a being that was full of sunshine brightness. A crown was on His head and His entire being was shinning with a golden-ness that so bright, that it blinded the eyes of the young lady for quite a long period of time. "Are you really willing to come with me, most beautiful of women, to my Kingdom, to be my Queen?" The voice of the prince was different. Previously, the voice was loving and tender, and like a servant. Now, it was commanding, full of authority, and like that of a King. Snow Black smiled and shyly held the hand of the majestic being before her. "Yes," she replied, with her head slightly bowed down, her cheeks flushed. They kissed. And there were claps arising from the hands of the 7 dwarfs, and millions of invisible beings that suddenly became visible who had just arrived from paradise to escort their King and His newly found bride back to their Kingdom.

The grass is not green, but yellow. Faces after faces of living skeletons in filthy rags staggered aimlessly towards nowhere in particular. A long haired living skeleton threw a tiny half-alive skeleton away from itself. "Don't leave me, mama!" The young half-dead whimpered, not with its voice, but its eyes. The long haired skeleton walked on, joining the faces after faces of skeletons in filthy rags in their journey to nowhere. The young half-dead tried to force its tiny legs to stand, but it crumpled to the ground. Its skeleton legs were incapable of supporting it. "Don't leave me, mama. Don't leave me!" It screamed, wordlessly. "Shu Zhen, are you with us?" The voice of her church friend, Mei Zhen brought the 22 year old young woman back to the real world. "Er… yes," Shu Zhen stammered. "Sigh, you are daydreaming, again, aren't you?" Xiao Hui, another of her friends from church, sighed. "Well, er, not really…" Shu Zhen replied. Her friends took no notice of her. "The food here really sucked," Mei Zhen commented. Her not-so-thin hand, with the use of a knife, cut out another large portion of meat from one of the several dishes before her. "I don't think we can finish… the food," Shu Zhen said. "Besides, we are quite fortunate to have something to eat." "Fortunate? The food is not free. We paid for them, you know. With our money. Our hard-earned money." Xiao Hui stated her opinion, aggressively. She paused for a moment to help herself to some sliced pieces of beef on her plate. "The government, with the 2 tax increase, really robs us of our livelihood. We will starve to death, I tell you, starve to death!" Shu Zhen shuddered. She thought of the skeletons she saw in her vision. "What about the Ethiopians who are currently suffering from a famine? Aren't we more fortunate than them?" "We can't really compare ourselves with them. They are used to it." Xiao Mei replied. "Well, still, maybe we can do something to help them," Shu Zhen suggested, timidly. "Don't be silly, Shu Zhen. There is nothing we can do to help them. Only those God has called to be missionaries are given the abilities to help these destitute people." Mei Zhen said. Why are you so sure that God is not calling us to be the missionaries, Shu Zhen wondered aloud to herself. She was too fearful to express her insignificant voice. The cramped seat in the plane afforded her plenty of time to reflect on the words of her parents. "You are kind to the world, but cruel to your own parents!" Her mother had expressed in disappointment. "We brought you up, gave you a good education, and now you… sigh… it is your choice." Her father sighed. Shu Zhen thought about her bungalow that she had resided in since she was a child. She thought of the eight maids that her busy parents had hired to look to her needs. She thought of the never-ending-supply of food that her house had never failed to provide her. She thought of the income that was the envy of her friends, which she received as a manager of her father's company. Fear crept into her heart and mocked her. You are a sheltered pot. You won't be able to deal with the hardships there. What a foolish decision this is. Fear's voice was loud. Shu Zhen was too timid to combat Fear. The grass is not green, but yellow. The young half-dead was lying alone, counting the seconds before blackness engulfed it. Its eyes would soon fail it like the way its legs and voice did. In the midst of darkness, it saw a figure of light walking closer and closer towards it. "I am Jesus." The figure of light whispered to the child. The child smiled when he saw the bread in the hands of the figure of light. The blackness would not engulf him, after all. The child lied comfortably in the laps of Jesus. "I will be your mama." The voice of Shu Zhen said, lovingly. Boldness delivered a crushing blow to Fear, and Fear was defeated. Shu Zhen held tightly to the vision in her mind, and found to her surprise she was not afraid anymore.

Nisa was tied to the altar, a sacrifice for the Dragon, that terrorised the world of Gideon. She was a follower of the Most High Gibeon, who was believed by the many Gibeonites to be the creator of the world of Gideon. Netherless, the believers of Gideon had lost their faith in their Most High, after not having seen any miracles for more than a thousand year. They followed Gibeon out of a routine, reading from His Holy Book, acts of wonder He did in the world of Gideon, which they now considered as myths. The worship rituals of Gibeon were seen as a kind of tradition, which the Gibeonites blindly followed. At the other end, there were the followers of the Dragon. They were increasing in numbers day after day. Unlike the Gibeonites, they believed in the power of the Dragon. They had travelled to the cave of Darkness, where he dwelt, and seen his power at work. They had seen his magic spells manifesting in their world, and they knew that if they followed the Dragon, they could be leaders in the world of Gibeon, and they loved their power. They had to sacrifice sons and daughters to gain favor from the Dragon, and they had no qualm about doing so. Nisa was the daughter of a Dragonite, a follower of the Dragon, that was held in high esteem among the Dragonites. Nisa's mother had purposely kept apart her daughter from the sacrifice, not out of maternal love, but out of a desire for greater power. It was believed that a sacrifice to the Dragon would gain the parent of the sacrifice the most power if the child reached the age of 7, and Matina, Nisa's mother had persuaded the other Dragonites to sacrifice their sons and daughters while she waited for her own daughter to reach the age of 7. All the years when she had been the mother of Nisa, she had lied to the child that she loved her when in reality, she was merely waiting for the right opportunity to sacrifice her. Tears dripped down Nisa's eyes as she awaited what she knew would be her death. It was not the death that frightened her, but it was her mother's cruelty that saddened her young heart. Nisa always knew that her mother was an evil Dragonite, but she thought that her mother genuinely love her and she never expected that all the love her mother showed her was merely a pretense. Unknown to her mother, Nisa believed in the stories of the Most High, and even as young as the age of 5, she chose to follow and call on the name of the Most High in times of her troubles. But this time, she was too sad to call on the name of the Most High. Her mother Matina's acts hurt her heart so deeply that she lost all her will to live. "Most beloved Dragon, I bring to you my child, Nisa." Matina chanted. "Grrrr..." "Most beloved Dragon, she is of age, of the perfect age." Matina declared loudly. "Grrr..." Matina took out her knife and went to Nisa, intending to slice out her heart. "Most High, save my mama." Nisa whispered. That was her last words. There was a puff of smoke, and the Dragon appeared. He took the heart with his furry hands and consumed the heart. "Grrr..." He grunted in satisfaction. "Matina, I am most well pleased with you. Not only had you sacrificed your only daughter, but you had sacrificed her when she is at the perfect age. Grrr...furthermore, she is of the follower of the Most High Gibeon, that foolish coward who created this world and banished me to the cave of darkness, denying me of my freedom, simply because I dared to suggest to Him that He let me rule the world in His place. I was being most polite, wanting to relieve Him of His burdens. He did always mention to me that He was tired of the unbeliefs of His creation, and out of my goodwill, I offered to take His place as the new ruler of the world. For my kindness, He banished me to the cave of darkness, where I now had to dwell in. I could not leave that sickening dark place, except on occassions when you, my worthy followers summoned me." "Most beloved Dragon, Gibeon had not appeared in this world for a thousand year. Most likely, He had met with some kind of mishap. You will be the new ruler over us, and I am glad to be of service to you." Matina said, without feeling a sense of remorse over the death of her daughter. "Yes, the time for me to be free from the cave had come. That fool Gibeon had told me that if his follower ever died as a sacrifice to me, the spell of the cave would be broken and I would be free to move in the world. Grrr..." Dragon laughed. "Oh, that means we can be with you now, our master, and share in your joys of being the new ruler of this world?" "Yes, Matina, and for your reward, I will let you have the honor to be my first meal, who I could eat of my own free accord, without the need of stupid mortals like you. Grrr. Grrr. Grrr." Dragon uttered a series of words and Matina was transformed into a cooked chicken, which Dragon devoured with a great hint of satisfaction. "When the Dragon is freed, and the world is in darkness, cry out to me and I will send you my annoited servant, and He will defeat the Dragon and free you from his malice forever." Gimeon read out from the Holy Book, with zeal and excitement. The reddish brown hair which marked Him out as unique among the youngster in the Academy of Gibeon flew as the wind blew. He was a most beautiful youngster, not beautiful because of his physical appearance, but beautiful because he always respond to the mockeries of his peer around him with kindness. At such, he won his initial enemies over to his cause, and they became his friend. The other youngsters who formerly mocked and made fun of Gimeon were now his best friends, always eagered to be with him and listened to his sharing from the Holy Book. Unlike the other mortals in the world of Gideon, Gimeon believed with all his heart in the existence of Gibeon, and he actively seek to learn more about the ways of Gibeon and he actively shared the way of Gibeon with his peers and the people around him. "But Gimeon, the Dragon has been freed, and he is now the world's new king, and yet the annoited servant of Gibeon has not come to us." Yafu, one of his youngster friend mumbled as he listened to Gimeon. "I am sure the Most High had foreseen that Dragon will be freed, and that even now, His annoited servant walked among us." Gimeon smiled. "But Dragon said that he is the maker of the world, and we all could see his powers, clearly. The Most High, on the other hand, is most silent when we suffered under the cruel rule of Dragon. Why don't we give up on believing in the Most High and followed Dragon? Most people in the world are doing that, now. Only our town, the town of Faith, still chooses to believe in the Most High, and Dragon merely allowed us to exist, because he regarded us, the followers of Gibeon as his trophies." Tafa, another Gimeon's youngster friend mumbled. "Do you actually believed that Dragon is our maker, when hs is merciless and cruel? Yet, in our hearts, we retain our conscience, and we know through our conscience that when we kill people with no regard like the way Dragon did, it is very wrong. I believer our maker must be kind hearted, because we are born with the desire to be kind hearted. Therefore Gibeon, whose moral law is holy and pure, must indeed be our true maker. "Gimeon answered with a laugh. "Why haven't His annoited servant come, then, in response to our cries?" Yafu asked. "Perhaps He had come and is in your midst. You just do not recognise him," Gimeon replied. "Well, let's not think about Gibeon or Dragon. Let's go to the pool and have a swim." Tafa muttered. "Sure, let's have a swim." Gimeon replied, with a laugh. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Servant, I had read in the Holy Book that the annoited servant will arrive when I am freed. It had been ten years since I had reigned in this world of Gideon, and all I had seen of Gibeon's servants are fools and cowards. To challenge Him who had the audacity to lock me in the cave of darkness for so many, so many years, I had preserved the town of Faith, hoping to see the day when I can match power with His annoited servant. Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... bur none of his servants had dared to challenge me to a duel. My challenge, dedicated to all adults above the age of 17, posted in the town hall of the town of Faith remained unheeded for years. Grrr... Grrr... Grrr..." Dragon laughed. "That is because... most beloved master... Gibeon is afraid of you." Nata declared, as he massaged the back of Dragon. "What a disappointment. These ten years had been a boredom to me. None of the mortals is my challenge or my match. By my incantations and spells, I can turn them into every things I desire, and they are not able to resist me. Grrr... Grrr... they all cowered in fear before me... even the so called followers of Gibeon all cowered in fear before me. Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... I am so bored." "Most beloved Master, none can ever be your match. Not Gibeon and definitely not his annoited servant. You will reigned in this world for a thousand year." Nata declared. "Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... a thousand year is a long time. I had already begun to get bored of being the ruler of this world. I really hope for a challenge, for something that will take away my boredom." Dragon yawned. At this point, a woman ran towards Dragon in excitement. "Most beloved Master, the challenge... the challenge... someone had finally dared to challenge you." "Grrr... Grrr... finally. And who is this fool?" Dragon laughed. "He is called Gimeon, and he is 18 years old, and he lives in the town of faith." the woman replied. "This should be fun and interesting," Dragon laughed. "Tell this fool to meet me in the cave of darkness, and sent a notice to the entire world that all the leaders I had appointed to watch over my world for me are to gather in the cave of darkness. I want them to watch how I made a fool of this stupid Gimeon." The cave of darkness were filled with people who surrounded the two men that were facing each other. One of the man was a youngster with reddish brown hair. The other man was a handsome man in his middle age, with furry hands. The crowd that surrounded them was cheering the man with furry hands and mocking the youngster. "So you are the one that dared to challenge me?" Dragon sneered. "I come to you in the name of the Most High Gibeon," Gimeon replied, calmly. "Gibeon is a fool, and so are you. Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... " Dragon laughed. "I trust in Gibeon, that He will never fail me." Gimeon answered. "Very well, name your challenge. I will defeat you no matter what challenge you may raise. Magic, wisdom, power, you can name any form of challenge you want. And if you defeat me, I will give you all my powers and teach you all my incantations and spells and let you rule over the world." Dragon declared. "I do not need your spells or incantations, all you have to do is this: Vomit out all the hearts you had eaten and all the people you had consumed if you lose the battle," Gimeon declared. "Very well, then. Name your challenge." Dragon replied. "Your magic is your pride and strength. Using your magic, do what you will with me, except the taking of my life. If I call you master, you will win the battle. If I still hold onto Gibeon in spite of what you had done, then you lose." Gimeon replied. "Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... very well, then, you fool. Be prepared to regret challenging the source of my strength. If I cannot defeat you after five tries, I will admit defeat." Dragon declared. "I will take you on," replied Gimeon. "Fire appears and burns Gimeon, but do not take his life." Dragon chanted. Fire began to consume the body of Gimeon. Gimeon screamed in pain. "Do you acknowledge me as your master?" Dragon hissed. "I love Gibeon and Gibeon alone," Gimeon replied. "Fire vanisheds. Frost-bites appear. Frost-bites, surround Gimeon but do not take his life." Dragon chanted. Frost-bites began to appear all over the body of Gimeon. Gimeon screamed in pain. "Do you acknowledge me as your master?" Dragon hissed. "Gibeon is my only master. I delight to follow Him." Gimeon replied. "Frost-bites disappear. Itches of all kinds, terrorise Gimeon with your power but do not take his life." Dragon chanted. Gimeon began to scratch his body, unable to bear with the itch that surrounded him. "Do you acknowledge me as your master?" Dragon hissed. "Trust in Gibeon and His powers will come to this world, again." Gimeon replied. "Itches disappear. You are tough. I will show you no mercy. Fire, frost bites and itches of all kinds. Terrorise Gimeon with your power but do not take his life." Dragon chanted. Gimeon felt like he was in the greatest of agony. But he looked on the faces of the mockers who were there to cheer Dragon on and he thought of all the oppressions they suffered under the power of Dragon, and he endured his ordeal. "Do you acknowledge me as your master?" Dragon hissed. "Dragon, oh Dragon, my most beloved creation. You are always so eager to rule over everyone as their master, but tell me honestly, in all these ten years, when I had let you ruled over the mortals, had you truly experienced joy? Worship your maker, and turn from your evil ways, and then you will know the joy you lost the instant you desired power over being my humble servant." Gimeon replied. "You... you are Gibeon. You are that stupid creator of mine who trapped me in the cave of darkness! You had come down in the form of man. How is that possible?" Dragon exclaimed. "I am the creator. All things are possible for me. You still have one more chance to use your magic, or are you ready to admit defeat?" Gimeon replied. "Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... my change of vengence is at hand. All these years... you banished me into the cave of darkness... simply because of my desire to rule over these foolish mortals you had created. You denied me of my freedom, you forgot about all the years when I had been your most faithful servant, and refused to show your love to me. All because of my desire to rule in place of you. I could never hurt you when you are still the Most High Creator. But now that you are a mere mortal, I can hurt you. I can actually hurt you. And I will see for myself now if you really love these mortals or if you are in fact the universe greatest hypocrite. I will show you no mercy this time." Dragon shouted in anger. "I know what you have in mind. Indeed, it is the hardest of all tests, but I will accept your challenge." Gimeon replied. "Mortals that surround me, be filled with hatred for this Gimeon that you see. Do to Him anything and everything you will, including the removal of his very life." Dragon exclaimed. The crowd was filled with a wild hatred for Gimeon and they began to hit him, spit on him and beat him. "If you acknowledge me as your master, I will stop your ordeal and spare your life." Dragon hissed. Tears fell from the eyes of Gimeon. It was not the blows of his creation that pained him, but it was the madness that filled their hearts that made him endured an agony which no physical blow could ever bring. Like wild beasts, they had forgotten the images He had created them to be. They had traded away His glories, His righteousness for hatred, evil, greed, power, like what his servant Dragon had done. It was this evilness that was in the people that ultimately pained him. "Dragon, Dragon, you can never take my life. I willingly surrender my power, and I willingly give out my life." Gimeon uttered and he fell to the ground and died. Dragon stared at the dead form before him. Gibeon, the creator God, he could use his magic to defend himself before his creation. For it was Gibeon who has given to Dragon his magic. Yet, Gibeon, when he was in the form of the mortal man Gimeon, did not make use of His magic to defend His own life but chose to give out his life in love for his creation. "I have no doubt, my master, that you are true love. I admit my defeat. Do to me as you will." Dragon replied. "If you can come back to life." "If? Oh Dragon, oh Dragon, you had been with me all these thousands of years before I created the mortals, and you can still doubt my power. Is there anything too difficult for me?" Gimeon laughed as he rose from the ground. "You cheater. You never truly died." Dragon laughed. "And you Dragon, you do not truly wish that I died. Keep your promise to me and vomit out all the hearsts and people that you had eaten." Gimeon laughed. Dragon vomited out all the hearts and people he had eaten. "Return to life!" Gimeon commanded the hearts and pieces of mortals that had been vommited out by Dragon. Nisa opened her eyes and saw that she was alive. Not only that, she saw her mother Matina, and she was in tears. "My daughter Nisa, forgive me. I had been a cruel mother." Matina cried. Nisa looked at Gimeon and she laughed. "Thank you, Most High, for saving my mother." Gibeon laughed. "My precious child, it is not me, but your faith in me, that saves your mother." "Master," Dragon muttered. "What shall we do with these evil beings who trample on your most holy body." He pointed at the crowd that had beaten Gimeon to death, that was now staring at Gimeon in bewilderment. Gimeon laughed, "Oh Dragon, none of these evil being had trampled on my body like the way you did. Yet, in spite of what you did, I had not lost my love for you. Go and teach them my ways, that they may learn to trust me even in times when I am not there to show them my powers and wonders." "I humbly obey, my master," Dragon replied. "Thank you for being so patient with me and with all of your creations." "'To quote my other form in another world, in that world known as earth, where I am known by another name and another body, I had not come to save the righteous but to save the sinners. And you, my beloved Dragon, is the chief of the sinners, and all your trials and tests are there to turn you away from your evilness, so that you can follow again my path of righteousness." "Grrr... Grrr... Grrr... what is your name in that other world, my master?" Dragon asked. "That is a mystery, my precious servant, reserved for those who can truly discern."

It was the AD 5000. My name is Cylopet Hornet, from the X1574 Secret Agent Division. I am sent by MR.X, known more popularly as The Boss to stop an attempt by the mad scientist MR. H to assassinate Jesus Christ, the figure whom religion people simply love to worship during every Sunday and set up special occasions like Christmas day for. Mr.H believes that Jesus is the source of the influx of religious wars in the world today, between the True Followers Of Jesus, the Christian sheep, and the Jesus' Disciples, the top three religious groups of the world. Mr. H, in his desire to help the world reach the stage of perfect peace had made attempts to assassinate a fair share of number of people from the past. The killing of Adolf Hitler was Mr. H's attempt to destroy the Nazis. He sent a group of special robot agents into Hitler's home before he was born to kill his mother. His attempt succeeded in destroying Hitler, it prevented the mass termination of Jews by the hands of Hitler, and this was something that Mr.H was proud about. He boasted about it frequently whenever he had the courage to circulate videos of himself to the general public. "By my invention of the time travelling machine and employment of robot agents to kill off nasty historical figures like Adolf Hitler, I prevented the mass termination of Jews and stopped Germany from getting into the wars and saved many lives. Thanks to my work, the Nazis were wiped out for good in our world today." What this evil terrorist did not mention was the fact that millions of people became mindless zombies in our world who had to be exterminated. They were related in blood some ways or another to Hitler. Millions more became confused over certain sectors of their memories. This was the case for the Jews. They were unsure if the holocaust did happen. The Nazis were wiped out, but the Fazis came into our world scene. World wars 2 did not disappear from our history. A man named Razolf Mamoth of France joined Italy and Japan to commit the crime of world wars 2. The scientists of The Time Machine Control Headquarter were working on ways to fix the problem that the assassination of the mother of Hitler had caused. Confused jews, rise of the Fazis, the chaos in history classes over what actually happened—people remembered something of the Nazis, did not understand how the Fazis came into our world, and in general could not reconcile their confusion. Thanks to him, our world today was with more problems than less. Scientists were still trying to figure up how to undo the works which Mr. H had done—resurrect Hitler's mother and patched up the history that Mr. H had changed. Now, this mad man wanted to assassinate the baby Jesus, to be exact, to assassinate the mother of Jesus before Jesus could come into the world. Imagine what the world would become. My wife, yes, my religious wife would be deeply affected. What would she become if her precious beloved Jesus suddenly disappeared from the history of mankind? It was simply incomprehensible! She, Marataa, was so crazy about Jesus. She talked non-stop about Jesus, attended song writing classes to learn how to compose songs about him. Although she was not a pastor, she knew everything in the bible from Genesis to Revelation. She was not an evangelist but she preached to me non-stop to believe in her Jesus as my Savior. She tried to bring our sons to Sunday school when she thought I was not looking. Personally, I had no concern for what happened to this Jesus. But I would not want my wife and the millions of people who believe in Him to become confused when a large part of their lives and reason for living suddenly disappeared. The robot agents that Mr.H had sent to assassinate Jesus must be stopped at all costs. The time machine that I was in jerked to a stop. I had arrived at my destination. I checked my watch. Oh gosp, I was five seconds late, the robot agents had probably arrived before me. For all I knew, Mary might possibly have already been assassinated. In the world that I lived in, a second was decisive over the fate of the future. I hastily put on the invisible Alpha Red goggles, which would allow me to detect the robot agents that Mr.H had sent to a manger in the town of Bethlehem in Judea to destroy my wife's savior. The robot agents who Mr.H had sent to kill Jesus were invisible to the naked eyes. They could only be detected with the use of my Alpha Red goggles. I, too, was invisible to the eyes of the people living in the past. This was due to a time travelling suit that I was wearing. I took out my robot ray rifle. The time machine door opened. I put on my machine-manufactured wings that gave me the abilities to fly in the sky. I flew out of my time machine and prepared to shoot at the robot agents I expected to arrive anytime soon. To my shock, I saw bright beautiful beings hovering over the manger of Jesus. The dismantled bodies of the robot agents were scattered all around the manger where my wife's savior would be born. These beautiful beings were armed with gigantic swords. They were dressed in beautiful white robes, and had beautiful wings on them. I found myself to be awestruck by these beings of great beauty that my Alpha Red goggles detected. Oh, their voices…I had never heard such beautiful voices. They were singing in unison, their voices were different in tones, and yet they united together to form a beautiful chorus of heavenly song. I would pay millions to listen to their enchanting voices, again and again. Could their voices be a lure to drive me to a state of relaxation so that they could kill me more easily? The thought broke me out of their melody traps. They must be the new inventions of Mr.H, sent to kill the mother of my wife's savior. I aimed my robot ray rifle at them, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. My robot rifle, which was 100% workable, malfunctioned for the first time in my life. This was impossible! At the same moment, one of the beautiful beings with wings flew towards me. That is it! This is my end. I had failed in my mission and I will die at the hands of Mr. H's latest invention. I would never get to see Marataa, again. "Do not be afraid, Mr. Cylopet." The beautiful being spoke with a deep voice that was as loud as the sound of waterfall and yet as soft as the tip toe of guilty teenagers trying to sneak into their beds after they came home late. How this was possible, I could not know, you had to be here with me, and listen to the voice yourself before you could possibly know what I was talking about. "You know my name!" "Do not be afraid, Mr. Cylopet," the beautiful being spoke again. "I am a servant of the High and Almighty One who reigns forever. The robot agents which Mr.H of your world had sent to assassinate Mary, the blessed lady of the Mighty God, had been dismantled by us." My mouths opened wipe. These… these beautiful beings… they were… they were the angels. Angels… were real. "You are most honored, Mr. Cylopet. You are the only man fortunate to witness the birth of the Savior of the world from your world. Join us in the chorus to celebrate His glorious birth." I sang like never before. My voice resonated with the angelic choir I was fortunate to sing together with, and it resonated in turn with the shepherds who arrived shortly to sing together with us. I had never enjoyed singing so much before in my life. "What happened to you, Cylopet?" Marataa asked. "Nothing happened," I lied. I knew christians were not supposed to lie, but I hoped God forgive me for this one. The secret of the time machine was something my occupation would not allow me to tell to my wife. "But you had never wanted to attend my church before, why the change this time?" "This Christmas, I wanted it to be different. I wanted to accept Him, Jesus, as my savior." Marataa could not understand what was happening to me, and why there was this sudden change in my attitude towards church and Jesus, but she broke down into a sob, right there and then, at the church's service. Everyone in the church was looking at us, but she did not care. She went right on, praising Jesus, again and again for my salvation, and I praised Him together with her.

"Do not…do not kill me." She trembled in fear, holding tightly to a book. The assassin's face was blank, expressionless. His eyes were lifeless, void of a soul within. He was made for one mission, created for one purpose, trained for one function. The tip of his gun continued to point at the young lady that was before him. Kill. 757, your mission in life is to kill. The words that were repeated into his blank mind echoed again and again. "I… have a secret that can change your life…"Bang. Emperor Number Infinite was standing at the stage, facing a crowd of more than a million expressionless people, all dressed in similar identical gray factory made clothes. "For the first time in the history of planet 345, we had created one billion factory babies within 365 days with a fatality rate of zero." The people gazed at the emperor with lifeless eyes, listening. "Of these one billion babies, the most genetically healthy ones will be groomed to be leaders and breeders. The remainders will be assigned to be trained respectively to specific roles which we had paved out for them." The people continued to gaze at the emperor. "And on the 25th year of my reign, we will go to wars with earth. We will pay the earthlings back for abandoning us here." The people clapped. There was no smile, no joy, their faces were all blank. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That was the first sentence found in the book which the dead girl had been holding. "Your name, given name, is number 757. You are the 757th successful babies that survive through your first 5 years in planet number 345." He was given a name for the first time in his 1,825th day alive. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. That was how those pathetic earthlings who dared to travel to planet 345 believed themselves to be made? "You were all made in a factory, with a machine. A sperm was collected from the male specimen, and an egg was collected from a female specimen, and the rest of your making took place inside a special machine known as the baby fertilizer." He remembered looking vaguely into some pictures that were taken from planet earth; the planet was so beautiful, with things which they call trees, cows, horses and butterflies, all coming forth naturally, not made in a factory. It was so different from planet 345, where everything was artificially made, from the planet itself, to every single of the machinery tree, and chemically produced food. Planet 345, a round metallic ball invented by the top scientists living in planet earth, was created by the earthlings to get rid of overpopulation problem on earth. The people on earth in those photos were so different from the people in planet number 345. They have smiles, they have tears, and they all look so different from one another, as if they are made by a creative and unique being, not a product from a factory. Through Him, all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:3. All things? Even factory made babies? Even him? A foreign feeling suddenly gripped hold of number 757, it sent strange water raining down his eyes. "I am just a number. I am not like the earthling. I am made in a factory. I am not made by Him, whoever He is, wherever He may be." He envied the girl. She was made by Him, not in a factory. Not like him. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. "Does that also apply to me, Jesus? Will you also save me, if I believe in you? Please save me." Something strange entered into the heart of Number 757 for the first time in his life, something he could not explain. "Your body may be produced in a factory, but it is I who put your soul inside," a voice whispered gently within him. Number 757 smiled. "I am a living being." He threw off the gun and held tightly onto the book.

Here is where I post my short stories. I hope you enjoy them. Do provide me with feedbacks. Thanks.

Are there any fantasy series with christian themes?

Thanks.

I have elantris and stormlight archive as ebooks and WOT series as paperbacks. However, I am finding it hard to finish elantris because I generally do not like ebooks. I have US$12, which could allow me to buy a first hand paperback elantris, or a limited time period second hand A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms by George r.r martin. That is a seriously discounted rate for George's book but as it is second hand, it could be sold any day, while elantris is available for any time period. I only have enough money to buy one of them, due to me being unemployed. What should I buy? I prefer elantris but a knight seems a better deal. I prefer paperback books in general, and have no problem with reading them.