The man is called Yeshua

 

The creature, Lucifer.

 

“What do you want?” Yeshua asks, facing his antagonist.

 

“Just your attention,” Lucifer says; its manner nonchalant, though fire burns in its eyes. Pausing a moment, it shakes its head; a look resembling pity in its eyes.

 

“So, it has finally come to this; the last act, the grand finale, the denouement. Your triumph, the ‘reward’ for all you’ve accomplished.”

 

“Is that all you’ve come to say?”

 

“Of course not, Yeshua; you know me better than that. I’ve come to wake you from this lunacy … to make you realize the utter insanity of your ‘mission,’” Lucifer purrs; Its words, though seductive, tinged with a venom only pure evil can muster.

 

Rising from his knees, Yeshua straightens up, dwarfing the spectre.  Realizing the nature of its prey, Lucifer shrinks in fear; uncertainty clouding its eyes, replacing the arrogance of a moment ago.

 

Eyeing Lucifer silently, resignation, mixed with pity and revulsion, registers in Yeshua’s eyes. Leading Lucifer away from his sleeping companions, He sits on an adjacent boulder.

 

“Now, you were saying …”

 

Stroking its chin Lucifer circles Yeshua. “How many of these disciples of yours are going to stand by you in the hours to come, Yeshua?” he asks, a look of playful mockery dancing across its face. “Oh … I’m guessing … by morning … let’s see … how about … none.  No, Yeshua,” Lucifer says, laughing almost maniacally, “they’ll all desert you. You know that, and still, you want to die for them?”     

 

Resignation in His voice, Yeshua sighs. “So, again, what do you want?”

 

“Simple. To save your life.”

 

“And how are you going to do that? More worthless promises like those in the desert … by my bowing down to you ... worshipping your greed; your hatred and the malice and destruction you spread everywhere you go?”

 

“I’m hurt, Lucifer says, feigning sadness. “After all, I only have your best interest at heart.”

 

“The only thing you have at heart, Lucifer, is evil … and ruin.”

 

“You wound me, Yeshua. In fact, I know, at this moment, one of your chosen ones is on his way, bringing the lackeys who serve the ‘elite’ among your ‘chosen people,’” Lucifer snivels, spitting out the words “elite” and “chosen people” with disgust.  

 

Still circling Yeshua, Lucifer pauses, observing the effect its words have and growing dismayed they have none. Angry and impatient, it continues.

 

“Now, what’s his name?” Lucifer says, tapping his finger on his chin. “Judas … ah yes, Judas … so easy to control … one of my best works; your chosen apostle, come to take you to your glorious demise … or should I say … ignominious?”

 

Again, saying nothing, Yeshua’s eyes pierce the creature. 

 

Failing at its attempt to intimidate, Lucifer’s attitude morphs into a barely concealed rage. 

 

“You poor demented fool. You ARE a madman. You believe you can save their souls … save them from themselves. YOU CAN’T! They are absolutely corrupt; filled with every vice known to heaven, hell, and earth … totally beyond redemption.”

 

Pausing to observe the effect of its words, again, they barely register. Furious, Lucifer shakes with rage.

 

“Those three years were a waste. A total waste! No matter what good you thought was originally in man, it is gone, worn away by my world and their choice.” Then, laughing almost gleefully, Lucifer giggles, its voice mocking; sounding like a small child “… and only with a teeny tiny bit of help from me.”

 

Silently, Yeshua eyes Lucifer with curiosity, still saying nothing.

 

Now, livid, Lucifer’s voice rises to the level of a scream as, bending forward, it comes face to face with its prey.

 

“Your chosen people, no … mankind is no longer your Father’s people. They’re mine. You hear me you fool; they’re mine, all mine. They worship me. They pay you lip service but bow down to me. They do my bidding, not yours … and certainly not your precious Father’s.”

 

“Is that all you’ve come to tell me, Lucifer?” Yeshua asks, disdain now mixing with the resignation still in his voice.

 

Straightening up, Lucifer backs away. “All, you fool … all?  No, I’ve barely started. Let’s look at what’s to come; how successful your quest will be.”

 

Weariness and boredom in his eyes, Yeshua shrugs his shoulders.

 

“So … start.”

 

“Okay, how about this? Your church, the one you wish to establish on those ruffians over there; it will be built on cowards. Oh yes, you’ll see that immediately; before the cock crows as you’ve said. They’ll deny and abandon you as they have now: sleeping like babies. Soon, they’ll all flee like children to save their pathetic hides. But that’s just tonight … and tomorrow …

 

… “Look down the road and see what it will become; a pit of vice and corruption. Those who follow that bumbling fisherman and his inept comrades … you will see them strutting like peacocks, hiding behind their fine vestments and the power of their office, committing the worst sins under the cover of darkness while all the while proclaiming you are the light …

 

… “And those who will lead your pathetic church. Look at that bunch. It might start with those fools over there, but one day their names will be Octavius, Rasputin, Jones … ah Jim Jones … one of my favorites … Koresh, … and let us not forget the Borgias and the Medicis; cowards, thieves, and charlatans, all of them. Preaching your word; all the while wallowing in a pit of debauchery that makes the pagan tribes of the time of your precious Moses look like a choir of angels. You must be so proud.”

 

Again, seeing the ennui in Yeshua’s eyes, Lucifer intensifies his rant.

 

“What is it you want, Messiah? … ah, yes … for all to be one. Sorry … not going to happen. No, the scoundrels and rogues will splinter and fracture your church as they proclaim that they are your true prophets; all the while lining their pockets with the mammon they extort from the ignorant, the gullible and the foolish. Sect after sect, cult after cult, all claiming to have the true word from you. And YOU WOULD DIE FOR THEM?” Lucifer screams.

 

Shaking his head, again, Yeshua just sits and listens.

 

Its fury growing with each minute Lucifer soldiers on.

“Now, let’s turn to those pathetic creatures you and your Father created in your own image; mankind …

 

…“Let’s start with your Father’s most dignified creation, or at least His final one; woman, your precious Eve. Today, she’s valued little better than livestock and for millennia that won’t change. Then, a minority will arise and convince others to reject the role envisioned for them. The word wife will become the new livestock … or slave, and that calling, precious and sacred in your Father’s eyes, will be labeled a burden, a measure of weakness, a surrender to the slavery of marriage. Eve will glorify chasing mammon over bringing forth new life to populate your precious Father’s heaven.”    

 

His eyes, half closed, Yeshua yawns silently to himself.

 

“Then there’s those who get rich on the backs of others. Throughout the ages it’s slavery; festering for centuries until it reaches its zenith; men, women, and children bought and sold like cattle to satisfy the greed of the privileged few. Families destroyed, men and women butchered, and children, good only for what they can produce. Your children, your image and likeness, treated worse than animals …

 

… “And eventually slavery assumes the face of a different beast. Plantation owners are replaced by something called the corporation. Work, productive, creative work becomes drudgery; workers simply cogs in a machine. Respecting nothing but profit, corporations grind the common man under its boot; draining the last of their strength then tossing the old and the useless onto the scrap heap when there is no more mammon to be wrung out of them …

 

… “But, don’t worry, they’re be plenty of diversions. Alcohol, drugs, gambling, prostitution, pornography; all comforts I’ll provide for them.”

 

Once more looking at Yeshua, Lucifer sees no response.

 

“Now, things get really good, it continues. Watch what man does with that gift your Father gave man in his creation, freedom … his so-called precious free will. Watch what they do with that intimate union of man and woman your Father designed as an opportunity to join with Him in populating His kingdom. Another strangled laugh escapes Lucifer’s lips. Your vision, Messiah, not mine … 

 

… “No, Yeshua. Having convinced them your precious marriage is nothing more than another form of slavey, look what my people, my minions, will turn it into … merely an itch to be scratched; a meaningless interlude, a trivial pursuit laced with contempt and indifference. My army; my flesh peddlers will turn your ‘great gift’ into a carnival of lust. And you know how mankind loves a carnival …

 

… “And what’s even better, the day will come when that decadence is available at the click of something called a computer key. Not only adults but now your precious children will wallow in it. All protected and defended by the freedom you gave them; the guise of freedom of speech. And you want to sacrifice yourself for that … and them?  You’re a fool.”

 

Again, seeing his words have little effect, Lucifer ratches his diatribe up a notch.

 

… “And it gets even better.  You urge them to look at their own value; the dignity of human life. Dignity, Lucifer says with a sneer; not if it’s inconvenient. Remember at your birth, Herod slaughtered dozens in his effort to find and kill you. No, come to think of it, it was hundreds of baby boys.”

 

Lucifer pauses; something resembling a smile crosses its face.

 

“That was my work by the way …

 

… “Well, the future will make Herod’s butchery look like child’s play. Countless millions, killed without drawing a single breath of life on their own; slaughtered in the name of freedom of choice. How’s your precious Father’s free will working out? …

 

… “But why stop there? Life’s too hard. No problem. Just end it … wholesale slaughter sold as death with dignity. No more acceptance of suffering as joining with you as an act of solidarity; whatever that means. No, their doctors will become, at the least, coconspirators, and at the worst, executioners as they ease men’s pain.”

 

Shaking its head and chuckling, almost to itself, Lucifer continues.

 

“And their leaders, the politicians; who proclaim their love for the Lord, but support everything which spits in your precious Father’s face; pompously hiding behind their mantra, ‘Personally, I don’t support this but I can’t impose my beliefs on others.’ Ah, an act of cowardice … actually a virtue in my world … though in yours, maybe the ultimate perversion of your words … what were they now … ah yes, ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ Or, maybe, ‘no man hates his own flesh.’ Really? You have to love it … hatred, perversion, greed, lust, and murder, all sold as freedom of choice …

 

… “And you want save them with that cross, tomorrow?” Lucifer says, shaking his head, almost in disbelief. “You’re mad.”

 

His face still, expressionless, Yeshua remains silent.

 

“And now, my greatest achievement … war.  Don’t you just love all the slaughter through the ages done in your Father’s name? And then there’s the twentieth century. Two massive wars, several small ones. A world soaked in blood and the endless tears of mothers, wives, and children. At last count, what was the toll of the madmen who ruled? What was it you said,’ love one another as I have loved you?’ Sorry, but ‘kill them all, let God sort ‘em out’ becomes the rule of the day …

 

… “There it is messiah. The long road of hatred, greed, lust, perversion, and murder; taking the freedom and dignity you gave them and turning it into nothing more than a license to indulge their depravity. That’s what you’ll see; the future of your creation, your mankind …

 

… “And you want to die a horrible death for these wretched beings?” You’re not a messiah,” Lucifer shrieks, his voice caustic and scathing. “You’re a delusional fool, a pathetic madman!”

 

His diatribe exhausted, Lucifer stares at Yeshua.  Panting slightly, its eyes register both hatred and disbelief as several silent moments pass.

 

Then, calmly rising from his seat, Yeshua fixes Lucifer with a withering look.

 

“No, Lucifer, that is not what I see. These people, they are not all yours,” He says, His voice measured and steady.

 

Again shrinking in fear; a low menacing growl escapes Lucifer’s lips.

 

“So, you want to look at the future?  Let’s do just that …

 

… “It must really annoy you Lucifer to see the goodness in my Father’s creation you cannot pollute. To see millions upon millions of souls who reject your pathetic lies; preferring hope in the joy He promises. Let’s look at some of them …

 

…”First, the church that rises from those ruffians over there, as you call them.  It prospers and grows despite those within it who fail and fall from grace. It becomes the world’s largest provider of care and comfort for those in need, both spiritual and material; not to mention providing Me the opportunity to be with my people. That church, grounded in those weak men, will stand for all time, despite your pathetic efforts to sabotage its people and their efforts.  That must really gnaw at you …

 

… “How it must rankle you to see an endless stream of men and women joining in that sacred bond of my Father they call matrimony? And doing so, bring countless children into their world; loving, protecting, and teaching them in the ways of their Heavenly Father from the moment of their birth …

 

… “You must cringe at the unending rejection of you; the millions of babies baptized in Our name, cleansed of the residue of your filth, and taken from you in an instant? …

 

… “And then, shortly after that cleansing, you’ll see little brides and grooms, inviting Me into their heart and soul; not fully understanding what they do, but knowing and accepting it in the love and the faith they have in those who love them …

 

… “How it must infuriate you to see them celebrate the moment of my birth; calling it Christmas? And on that morning, seeing the shining eyes of little tykes knowing Santa Claus has showered them with love. Ah, Santa Claus, that all beneficent being that is my Heavenly Father in a way an innocent can understand Him and His love.”

 

A low hiss emanates from the spectre, as Yeshua continues.

 

“Does it frustrate you when those children rebuke you and your impotence? When they grow and become teenagers, trusting and believing in the faith their parents instilled in them and giving of themselves unselfishly?  Collecting food for the poor and disadvantaged, building shelters for the needy, visiting the elderly and bringing joy, or donating blood for the sick and injured? Qualities they take into their future lives. No, Lucifer; you lose them, not Me …

 

… “How do you feel when you see brides and grooms, their faces filled with love and hope for a future, unite in their Eternal Father and in each other …

 

… “I imagine it infuriates you when they reject the mindless lust you offer and join together in that profound and eloquent sacred union my Father gave them; enjoying the bliss He intended it to bring? And in doing so, transcend the animal nature of procreation, which is all you offer, and partner with their Heavenly Father in populating Our world.”

 

Smiling inwardly at the look of misery on Lucifer’s face, Yeshua continues.

 

… “I imagine it must enrage you when they reject your putrid, impotent efforts to corrupt them; your carnival of lust as you call it? Do you see the twentieth, fortieth, or fiftieth wedding anniversaries of all those who live their life of union and love in my Father’s love and law?  Heaven celebrates those you know. Their success must eat away at what’s left of your soul …

 

… “And how depressing it must be to see all those who work in places of love, care, and concern for others; for the poor and the downtrodden? Who give of their time and talents to drive a sick person to a doctor, a young girl to a pregnancy support center, a grieving widow or widower to a counseling center, a child or a homeless person to a safe shelter. Yes, the untold millions who constantly live out My words; ‘love one another as I have loved you …

 

Saying nothing, Lucifer trembles, his eyes betraying the fury he feels inside.

 

“War is your purview Lucifer; don’t blame me for it.  It is your joy to spread death and destruction where and whenever you can. Yet in the midst of the living hell you create, men rise above your pathetic attempts and perform acts of valor, kindness, and love. Heroic acts. How exasperating it must be when they make peace?  Do you realize that those who die for the freedom of others, live in My Father’s house for all time?  Greater love than this no man has that he lay down his life for a friend. A moment of pain, an eternity of love and joy. You lose them all … that must hurt …

 

… “And what must be the cause of your ultimate self-loathing is your realizing you can’t compel them to accept your filth, your hatred and your ruin? How great is the rage you must feel when someone, down on their luck; in a desperate situation, ripe for your lies and the ruin you offer, still rejects you and trusts, hopes, and believes in my Father’s Law and Love? In His promises; not yours. That must really hurt …

 

… “ No Lucifer, you are not so powerful.  In fact, you’re nothing more than a sad little street hustler; a con artist. What will they call you … ah yes, a flim-flam man? And not really a good one at that when you consider the countless millions who ignore you and live according to my Father’s light and His Law; happy and safe in His world; a world that is the ultimate realization of love and joy. A world you chose to reject … 

 

… “Go home, Lucifer; rule in hell with all those who chose to follow you, because they, and you, will never see the Father’s kingdom …

 

… and that must really gall you, doesn’t it?”

 

A shriek of immense pain, born of a terrifying loneliness emanates deep from within the spectre; as if from a dimension beyond this olive grove. The sound of a tortured soul; devoid of joy, bereft of hope; the sound of one vanquished.

 

Trembling almost uncontrollably, deflated, eyes blood red with fury, Lucifer shrinks before Yeshua, and with one last howl of agony, vanishes. 

 

Remaining still for a moment, Yeshua looks skyward; a prayer on his lips and a look of peace lighting His eyes.  Then, returning to the present moment, He proceeds to the olive tree where, upon waking, His companions rub the sleep from their eyes.

 

Looking at them, a tender smile on His face, quietly He says …

 

“Come, my betrayer is at hand.

 

                                   **************

 

The God of Genesis owes man nothing. That God banished mankind from Eden, destroyed Babel and flooded the land, wiping out all but the last of His creation. The God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and, in ancient Egypt, annihilated the firstborn of all the living and obliterated Pharoah’s army.

 

Yet, this same God so loved the world that in the fullness of time He sent His only begotten son …

 

In that garden that dark, lonely night, the Son of Man saw what lay before Him; the whips and chains, the nails, the lance, the agony of the cross, and the humiliation of hanging naked for all to see. Death without a shred of dignity.

 

In that garden that dark, lonely night, the Son of God looked down the long road of eternity and saw two groups Those living in a swamp of their own making; a people who mock and scorn their Heavenly Father; reviling His Law and His love; preferring to wallow in the filth of a dark angel … 

 

… and those who refused to wade in that swamp.

 

So, what made Him embrace that cross?

 

Simple … people …

 

… one at a time …

 

     … people who love one another as He loves them …

 

     … people who listen to a child, or an adult in pain; sad, lonely, confused, or without hope, who can’t make sense of life, and then offer love, hope, encouragement, and their time and talents …

 

     … people who step aside to allow an elderly or infirm person to take a place of comfort they would have had for themselves …

 

     … people who open their wallet, their closet, or their home to those devastated by disaster …      

 

     … people who stop to aid another due to an illness, accident, or injury …

 

     … people who smile and teach a child, or an adult, about the goodness of others; not with words but with an act of kindness …

 

     … people who offer a hurting friend, or even a stranger, an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on …

 

     … people who refuse to allow others to suffer in a world of loneliness and silence …

 

     … people who prepare and serve a meal for the grief stricken at the funeral of a loved one …

 

     … or to those lonely and forgotten on a day such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, or any other day when others need …

 

      …what Arthur and Paul called …

 

     … a bridge over troubled water.”

 

     Ask yourself …

 

     … In which group did He see you?

 

     Thinkaboutit … I’m Tony Baggz

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