Author: Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 21

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 21

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

VANITY OF VANITIES, SAYS THE PREACHER; VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

            “What did I tell you, Querida?” Vermillion said with satisfaction. “Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.”

            I began to move away from my adversary, but my former friend followed me and used a human expression. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue? Hang on a minute, I want to show you something.”

            Although I knew he wanted to gloat, or point out something negative, I stopped. His team was brewing something very bad, and I thought he might give me a clue. But that wouldn’t necessarily be the case. Vermillion was very shrewd and had planned diabolically well.

            The two adulteress neighbors had been sneaking around for eight months, stealing time wherever and whenever they could, including Jenny’s basement, Justin’s minivan in a secluded park, and even a few times in a pay by the hour motel.

            They became addicted to the adrenaline as much as their lust for each other. The deceptive thrill of the forbidden fueled their blinded minds. Their carnal passion made them like dogs chasing their tails. They couldn’t get enough and they couldn’t stop. Lust doesn’t completely fulfill like real love does.

            “Notice how the two illicit lovers are so relaxed and lingering,” Vermillion said and then giggled maliciously. “They think they have arranged the perfect tryst, but a violent storm approaches.”

            For the first time since the adulterers consummated their illegitimate relationship, their significant others were supposed to be out of town at the same time. Jenny’s husband Jimmy was camping with a church youth group. And Jill supposedly went to her parents’ home in Des Moines for the weekend.

            “I’d say old Jenny has fulfilled the seductress from Proverbs chapter seven quite accurately in a modern sense,” Vermillion declared rather pleased. “Her husband is gone for a couple days, taking a sleeping bag with him. She put her best sheets on the bed. She kissed her lover aggressively when he stepped into her home. Then they took their fill of love until the morning. But that’s where it ends.”

            Tragedy was about to strike, and I needed to confer with my team.

            “Off to consult with Althea and Liam?” Vermillion inquired, referring to Jenny’s and Justin’s guardian angels.

            I ignored him. Even when people are not in a right relationship with their Maker, they are still afforded protection most of the time. This does not mean that if they do die, they are awarded eternal life. Salvation is a free gift, but it can be rejected.

            This rejection is rarely a person consciously proclaiming, ‘no I do not want salvation.’ It is almost always a person doing their own will rather than God’s will. Jesus said if you love Him, you will keep His commandments. (John 14:15) Maybe the biggest danger is procrastination. The Bible declares NOW is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

            Human existence is strange in so many ways. One of them is fear. So often a person will worry for nothing. They develop anxiety over a possible situation, and then it doesn’t comes to pass. Then there are those without a care in the world when a sudden, unexpected calamity overtakes them.

            Jenny and Justin relaxed in bed after committing adultery for the umpteenth time in the last several months. Familialarity with their sin had reduced their anxiety, guilt, and shame to an occasional itch. Whereas in the beginning it had been a flaming boil. Then a little time had allowed carnal passion to put a warm compress on the discomfort of a guilty, worried conscience.

            The more they indulged, the less they were convicted by their sins. The more they indulged, the more the excitement of the next encounter replaced the feelings of betrayal they once had. Vermillion’s team also gave them an extra sexual thrill at chasing the forbidden.

            Like a drug, it had become addictive and deceptive. But in the end, unlike love, it was unfulfilling. Oh, they told each other they were in love. They felt their shared secret gave them a special bond. But even if their relationship developed into leaving their spouses for each other, how could a cheat ever truly trust a cheater?

            They had become hardened under the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13) With their spouses gone for a couple days, they were both enraptured by an exciting first involving their illicit relationship. After months of sneaking around, and their typical tryst being a fast thrill, they now had two full days to drink wine and consume lust. For the first time they were going to sleep together in the truest sense of the word.

            But what they hadn’t accounted for was one of their spouses becoming suspicious. Distrustful to the point they had hired a private detective. One encounter being exceptionally incriminating. With a telephoto lense he captured the two lovers arriving separately at a cheap motel, but they both entered the same room.

            I need to be careful with my next wording, but there is a famous human saying about a woman scorned. The two lovers were about to experience this in the full sense of the phrase. After hours of intoxicating wine and passion, they fell into a deep sleep.

            In the early hours of the morning, they didn’t hear Jill Phillips sneak into the Stetson house. As she slowly made her way to the lover’s nest, a demon whispered a poem into her head. It was a rhyme composed more than a hundred years earlier regarding Lizzie Borden and the axe murders of her father and stepmother. Only Jill and the demon changed the words to fit this current crime.

            “Jill Phillips took an axe,” her lips muttered. “And gave her husband forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave his lover forty one.”

            I watched with bated breath. We are not always allowed to interfere with fallen world activity. Vermillion sidled up next to me again. “Funny how human lives play out, isn’t it?”

            I looked at him and then back at the drama unfolding.

            “How come you’re not running interference?”

            I remained silent.

            “I get it,” he said, and then laughed diabolically. “They made their bed and now they need to sleep in it… Permanently!”

            “We’ll see,” I said hopefully.

            “Who would have thought it would be Jenny and not Jimmy that betrayed their vows two and a half decades after promising them,” Vermillion said with a mockingly, sentimental tone as he began a little biography. “I mean, Jimmy was the one that was a player, while Jenny was a plain Jane, nerdy bookworm. Their marriage sure puzzled his old drinking buddies. After all the ravaging beauties he bedded, he up and marries someone who looked like she stepped off the set of ‘Little House On the Prairie.’

            “They said behind his back, ‘he sure married down.’ But things shifted over the years. He quit smoking and became a nibbler. Gluttony can be subtle, can’t it? And it often goes overlooked. After all, everybody eats. So in only a few years, his six pack abs transformed into a little keg. His hair began to thin.

            “Jenny, on the other hand, really got into aerobics after having two kids. She started running. She ate well. By the time the Stetson’s reached their twentieth anniversary, Jimmy was bald and overweight. Jenny was toned, fit, and habitually got blonde highlights streaked through her light brown hair. She wore outfits that showed off her shapely legs. People began to think, ‘ole Jimmy sure married up.’

            “Then you have the Phillips. High school sweethearts. Prom king and queen. Home coming king and queen. Head cheerleader to his quarterback. While a teenager and in her early twenties, Jill’s tendency for weight gain was held in check. A voluptuous body with an exceptionally pretty face made her the envy of many girls and the desire of most guys.

            “After birthing two children, it took Jill great discipline with what she put in her mouth, and much effort at exercise to return to a semblance of what she had been. But after a third child, an unexpected pregnancy at thirty something, she threw up her hands in defeat. She put minimal effort into exercise, and no longer held much discipline with food.

            “She hated the failed attempts of girlfriends to disguise disapproval when she indulged comfort food in front of them. She resented non-disguised disapproval from her mother. And she despised her husband’s not so subtle hints. She hated the older woman next door and how she seemed to purposely flaunt her hard body in those spandex shorts. Yet she hid her roiling jealousy over her husband running with Jenny, because he had petitioned her many times to join him herself.

            “So he didn’t notice that she noticed his friendship with the woman next door grow cozier and cozier. What happened to them? To her? She had quite literally been a queen to his king. Now over the last year especially, he avoided intimacy with her. This lack made her feel all the more like a dumpy old hag. And it was all because of a woman that was technically old enough to be his mother.”

            “Are you about finished?” I asked.

            “Quite!” he said and then bellowed with maniacal laughter. “And so are the love birds.”

            I couldn’t help what happened next. Earth is a sin filled, fallen planet. I get filled with righteous indignation when God is blamed for Satan’s doings. Heaven and unfallen worlds are perfect. This place with wars, famines, and so much cruelty is ultimately the result of the war in heaven, caused by Lucifer’s rebellion. Yet people at large call natural disasters, ‘acts of God.’ To use a human term, Hogwash!

            So when a person becomes a Christian, they become a rebel, in a sense. They rebel against their selfish tendencies and the ways of this world. Humans are warned that they are pilgrims here, and that all that live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12)

            But Jesus encourages, “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) There is also the comfort with these words of the Savior. “Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.”

            But the two lovers were not living Godly in Christ Jesus. Not only their human lives were at stake, but their souls were in jeopardy as well. So I cringed when the vengeful woman, with a sharp axe raised above her head, brought it down swift and hard on the shadowy, sleeping target.

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 20

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 20

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY (Exodus 20:14)

            “Are you disappointed she didn’t confess?” Vermillion asked. His tone was surprisingly neutral from what he usually spoke to me when he wanted to gloat or boast.

            “If you don’t have expectations with sinful humanity, you’re not disappointed,” I replied.

            “Is that why you’re side rejoices over one sinner that repents?” he asked with a mocking tone as he referred to Luke 15:7 and 10.

            “Why do you seem disappointed?”

            “I’m not. You know my side prefers sin and secrecy over truth and honesty.”

            “You must not be confident that there will be a second indiscretion.”

            “Oh, it’s not that at all. Now that she didn’t confess, she, I should say they, are gonna disregard the warnings of Proverbs chapter five about adultery. I just felt the confession would have been interesting to watch.”

            Now I knew why he was neutral. To use a human expression, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted to see the possibility of marriages destroyed with the adultery coming to light. At minimum marriages damaged. But he also wanted to see his prediction of rinse and repeat come to fruition.

            It had not even been an hour since the woman defiled herself with a man who wasn’t her husband. To add severity to the sin, the man she went to bed with was married as well. He was also the father of three young children. To make the iniquity yet more precarious, he was her next door neighbor.

            She had scrubbed herself aggressively in the shower after the encounter. Not only did she wish to scrub the sin away, she wanted to make sure any possible scent of her paramour’s cologne was gone. Then, facing her husband less than a half an hour after she dried off, he had leaned toward her and asked, “What’s that smell?”

            Her guilty conscience warned her that he suspected. In an effort to get her sin off of her chest, she blurted, “I have something I need to tell you.”

            He walked past her to the gas stove. “You didn’t turn the burner all the way off. So what did you need to tell me?”

            “How careless of me,” she said, looking at the stove with a frown as her brain scrambled for something to ‘tell’ him. “Um, there’s a light bulb burned out in the bathroom.”

            “Okay,” he said laughing. “You made it sound like something more urgent than a burned out light bulb.”

            “I just didn’t want to forget. You can reach it, but I’d have to get the little step ladder from the shed.”

            The next day, the woman got a text message from her young lover about going for a run. She made an excuse to not go. The following day the same text and made the same excuse to not go. The third day he called. As she looked at caller ID, she sighed and decided she couldn’t evade him forever. She might as well face the music. Yet she didn’t push answer in time. It went to voice mail, and he left a brief message. “Please call me within the next few hours. We need to talk, and Jill and the kids won’t be home until at least seven thirty.”

            She paced the living room nervously biting her thumb. Why was she hesitating? Did she actually want another tryst, even though she felt compelled to tell him their fling was a mistake? She wanted them to get back to normal. But what was normal? Flirting and lusting had become normal, and then that led to the point where they crossed a line!

            No, she determined to not only tell him it was a mistake, but that they needed to stop seeing each other altogether. Their relationship needed to be strictly a wave across the fence followed by a ‘hello neighbor, nice day.’ Then maybe their indiscretion would fade over time. She sighed heavily and picked up her phone. She might as well get it over with.

            “Hey,” she greeted softly, rather than her usual perky attitude.

            “Hey,” he replied with his own low tone. “Were you trying to avoid me?”

            “Why would I try to do that?” she asked, half joking and half serious as she tried to dial up a more lively vibe.

            “Because something pretty big happened between us the other day.”

            “Yeah, Justin, about that. We… ya know… made a mistake.”

            “I thought we made love.”

            “But we are both married.”

            “I know.”

            There was a long awkward pause. “Justin, I can’t have an affair. I love my husband… I think we need to stop running together, hanging out together.”

            “I completely understand. I felt terrible as well. But I do not want to lose our friendship.”

            She didn’t either. She hated the thought of their relationship being reduced to ‘sure could use some rain’ over the fence.

            “So, how about it? Let’s go for a run and try to get back to normal.”

            “Okay,” she replied with both a grin and a frown. “But I only have about a half hour, then I need to get supper started.

            “That’s fine.”

            As Vermillion and I watched, my opponent became giddy despite the woman putting on loose sweat pants instead of her usual painted on spandex shorts. She also pulled a large t-shirt over her head, covering the tight sports bra.

            Despite a resolve to just be friends, she felt a sense of skepticism. How could they go back to normal? Before their sin, they had a mutual attraction and a playful flirtation. Now that they gave in to the desires that resulted, would that just go away? Was it possible? They had opened a door. The question was, could it be shut before the illicit winds of lust opened it wider.

            But it seemed to work! Their playful banter was still present, but the sexual innuendos that had evolved over the previous months were absent. The chemistry was still there but held in check. Maybe just friends could work. They were well behaved and polite, and this seemed to give Vermillion great delight. He told me. “It’s the little things, Q, that build up to bigger things.”

            As their run ended, Justin followed her into her garage. He held out his hand to shake. With a boyish grin he said, “Thank you for accompanying me, Mrs. Stetson.”

            “Thank you for escorting me, Mr. Phillips,” she replied with her own grin. But then for some reason, she spontaneously winked at him.

            Their hands were still joined and Justin’s grin faded as he contemplated that wink. Then for some reason he spontaneously pulled her hand toward his face. With eyes locked on hers, he kissed it. Her pulse began to quicken, but so did her conscience. She jerked her hand from his but smiled coyly. “Are we gonna be able to remain just friends?”

            With a suggestive low tone, he growled. “You tell me.”

            “We have to,” she declared and gave him a playful shove. “Now, I think we both need a shower.”

            “So, are you suggesting we take a shower together?”

            “Justin!” she said with hands sternly on her hips, but a little smile curled on her lips. “I mean you in your house and me in mine. We can’t go down that road!”

            “We already did.”

            “Well, we need to realize that it’s a dead end.”

            “So let’s park and stay there awhile.”

            “Look, Justin, I don’t think running together and hanging out is gonna work. There seems to be just too much chemistry between us, and now that we, you know, got to know each other in a way reserved for our spouses. I mean, don’t you feel guilty? I know I do.”

            She hoped bringing up their partners would deter him, but it only added fuel to his fire. “I do, but there’s another side of the coin. Both of the spouses you mention are terribly out of shape. And ironically, trying to initiate sex with mine is like trying to pull her teeth. And you admitted that yours has recently developed certain problems. Which is also ironic since his wife has to be the hottest fifty something on the planet.”

            His compliment made her suddenly wish she was in her usual attire rather than frumpy sweats. He was clearly willing to pursue an affair, and she found this prospect both alluring and disturbing. Determined to focus on disturbing, she said, “Justin, it just isn’t right. We both took vows.”

            “True enough, but you were willing to break them the other day. How come then but not now?”

            She shrugged. “I gave into desire.”

            He grinned and took hold of her hand. “So give in again.”

            “I can’t.”

            “But why? I thought the other day was absolutely amazing! Forgive me, but you seemed to thoroughly enjoy yourself as well. So why am I now repulsive?”

            “Trust me, you are anything but repulsive.”

            “If that’s the case, I still don’t get it.”

            “Don’t you feel guilty, Justin? I mean, not just for our own spouses either. I don’t know if I could look Jill in the eyes right now.”

            “You’re over thinking this.”

            “You didn’t answer me. Don’t you feel guilty?”

            He shrugged. “Of course I do. But you’re worth it. The guilt will fade with time. We are both just freaked out by the newness of our secret love.”

            He loved her! Did she love him? Why were there so many mixed feelings? She realized they were still holding hands and she pulled hers away. She tried a different approach. Although she skipped church more often than she went these days, she said, “I’m a deaconess in our church; I was head deaconess for more than a decade. Do you realize how humiliating it would be if we got caught? Look, I’m already late getting supper going and I need to shower first.”

            “Run tomorrow?”

            She bit her lip and looked at her watch. “We’ll see.”

            Vermillion couldn’t keep silent. “Do you see why we usually win with fallen humanity, Querida? She is clearly more concerned with getting caught rather than the sin itself. But I guess that should be obvious since they’ve already done the dirty deed. Watch what happens next.”

            I knew what his team had in the works and it wasn’t good. The thing that made it all the more despicable was they were using the good heart of the adulteress’s husband. He was one of those people that many others rely on when in need. The type of guy that would give the shirt off his back when someone was in need.

            The adulteress’s mind was completely absorbed with her paramour and their dialogue. So she gave a little start as she dried off from her shower when her phone sounded off. Then she recoiled for a second as she reached for it and saw her husband’s name on caller ID. It was as if he knew her thoughts. It was as if he knew about her fling. But he couldn’t, could he? The guilty mind sure can be paranoid.

            “Hi, Honey,” she said cheerfully, yet her hand trembled slightly.

            “Hey, Babe,” her husband cooed lovingly, calming her instantly. “Have you started supper yet?”

            “I was about to. I was just drying off from a shower after a run.”

            She bit her lip. Every once in a while he asked if she ran with Justin. Never out of jealousy, always simply conversational. But he didn’t ask about their neighbor; he went right into the reason for his call. “Jared Anderson forgot to turn his lights off on his car when he got to work this morning, so I’m going over to his office to jump start him. By the time I drive over there and get him going, I won’t be home until around eight, give or take.”

            “Oh, okay. I’ll wait an hour to start supper.”

            “Thanks, Babe, love you.”

            “Love you, too,” she told him.

            Her heart pounded with excitement. She scrolled her contacts for Justin’s number. She was about to hit send, when my team pricked her conscience. She groaned and tossed her phone onto the bed. But she had freewill, and sometimes when carnal desire gets rolling, it’s hard to stop. Us trying to influence the conscience then becomes like trying to stop a Mack truck with a butterfly net.

            My team’s job becomes easier to a large degree when people stay grounded in the Word of God, coupled with prayer. It’s been said, and I agree, that prayer is the better half of study. When this is practiced, humans experience a very high success rate with victory over sin.

            Spiritual things have been compared to food and water. Jesus said if anyone thirsts let them come to Him and drink. (John 7:37) He also called Himself the Bread of Life. (John 6:35) How often does one need to eat and drink their physical food? As with physical nourishment, so with the spiritual sustenance. One needs it multiple times a day.

            On the other hand, beware. The enemy does double down on those that are serious about God. The Bible warns that those who live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12) The demons don’t need to work hard on the people that already don’t care about following God.

            Unfortunately the adulteress, someone still considered a church leader, had back slidden from devoted prayer and study. Her daily devotion had become reduced to a halfhearted thirty second prayer before bed. But her mind did anguish and wrestle with her dilemma over her potential lover for almost five minutes. But time was waning, she needed to make a decision.

            Having forfeited her strong connection with God, Vermillion’s team was able to harness her carnal desires. One of the first things they did after taking a hold of the reins was convince her that another dalliance was meant to be. Justin was right about them deserving each other. But was there still time?

            Almost frantically she picked up her phone. Justin’s name was still up and she hit send.

            “Hey, Jenny, what’s up?” his voice said into her ear.

            “Jimmy won’t be home until around eight… Do you want to come over?”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 19

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 19

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

“I SAY TO YOU THAT WHOEVER LOOKS AT A WOMAN TO LUST FOR HER HAS ALREADY COMMITED ADULTERY WITH HER IN HIS HEART.” (Matthew 5:28)

            “You’re too late, my former friend,” Vermillion gloated.

            “Am I?”

            “You are indeed,” he taunted. “The covenant is broken, the indiscreet affair consummated, adultery completed. Never to be undone.”

            “No, they can’t undo it. But it can be forgiven.”

            “Oh wait, I spoke amiss. I suspect that the affair is just beginning not completed. Oh, I know they both tell themselves, ‘just this once.’ But human hormones are a powerful drug, especially when locked into illicit thoughts. You should have been here to stop it, Querida.”

            “You know better than that. We can impress, we can protect, but we can’t get in the way of freewill.”

            He chortled. “Ah freewill, tiz a wonderful thing when coupled with a sinful nature.”

            “It’s a beautiful thing when submitted to God in love.”

            He snorted. “You say trust and obey, I say lust and give way. To the carnal instinct that is. Look how much fun they just had! That was the biggest thrill in years for both of them!”

            “Well, the biggest thrill in years is gone now. They are experiencing guilt and shame on a level like never before.”

            “That’s your side’s fault. We provide the party; you guys are the poopers.”

            “We provide peace and contentment when following God. The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Through the conscience, humans have an instinct leading to a higher purpose.”

            “It’s funny how that works, Querida. When that instinct is ignored, and a person gives themselves over to the forbidden, their doom is sealed.”

            “Not so, they…”

            “What do you mean not so?” Vermillion interrupted. “What about the mark of the beast or the seal of God? When a person gives themselves over to us, we have a seal as well.”

            “As long as they have breath, they have time to repent.”

            “Bah!” Vermillion barked, then laughed maliciously. “You just wait. They’ll rinse and repeat. Speaking of rinsing, look at the extra friendly neighbors now. They are both in their own showers trying to scrub their sin away before their spouses arrive home. Is that how one repents? With soap and water?”

            “It’s a start. They both are aware they have sinned.”

            “They’ll be back at it when the hormones rebuild. Then they will be aware that they tapped into something magical. Illicit brings excitement. Right now they are more worried that they might get caught than sorry that they sinned.”

            “Look at her tears. That’s not worry of being caught, that’s sorrow over betraying a sacred trust.”

            “It’ll pass. Then the recollection of his touch and the sensual sensations she felt will overrule her conscience. The first encounter is in the books after months, yeah years, of resisting. The next encounter will come much, much easier.”

            “We’ll see. There’s a reason for guilt. If she confesses, God will forgive.”

            “What about her husband? Shouldn’t she confess to him as well? Will he be harmonious with his next-door neighbor given such a revelation? Smile and wave as they both mow their lawns? No, Querida, my bet is she will figure what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. And that reluctance will ultimately make the second encounter much easier. Then a third and a fourth and a fifth, etc, etc. Despite their aggressive cleaning now, it was quite the start a half hour ago.”

            “You know as well as I do that it started with that first look of lust.”

            “Ah, like I said, lust and obey the carnal instinct. Sometimes it just takes time and patience. But a lot of resisted longing makes the coupling all the more intense when it finally happens. Were you here the first time the new neighbors, now lovers, met four years ago? I don’t believe you were, so let me fill you in.”

            “I was made aware,” I cut in.

            The older, established neighbors brought a welcoming gift to the new neighbors sixteen years their junior. The fresh names on the mailbox declared them to be Justin and Jill Phillips. The new neighbors invited their brand new friends in for a beverage. They accepted but said only for a few minutes because they had a golf engagement with some friends.

            As the older female neighbor sat next to her husband on a love seat, that’s when the first looks and thoughts in the secret recesses of the eventual lover’s minds began. Her short golf skirt revealed a lot of shapely leg, and as the younger man approached with a glass of lemonade, his mind told him, ‘She’s got to be forty plus, but she’s in better shape than your wife.’

            The older woman admired the lean, toned runner’s build of the younger man. His stomach was flat behind his gray tucked in polo shirt. She glanced at what looked like a small pillow behind her husband’s green polo shirt.

            The younger couple’s five and three year old sons were tearing around the living room. This motivated the older couple to down their lemonades more quickly than necessary. Then they looked at their watches and excused themselves.

            Although the two neighbors exchanged several waves in the following weeks, it would be a couple months before they actually spoke again. It was on a hot summer day when the older female returned from a run. The younger male had been operating an edger on the sidewalk as she approached. He stopped his work and stepped aside so she could pass. He smiled warmly and said hello.

            Instead of running past, she stopped. Huffing slightly and sweating profusely, she said, “How are things in the new digs?”

            “Great,” Justin replied.

            When she glanced down at her watch, apparently checking her running time, he glanced down as well. He took in her black spandex shorts with matching sports bra that seemed to be painted on. His mind told him, ‘Man, she’s smoking hot, and not just from the run. Yet she’s probably not much younger than my mom.’

            His eyes averted back to her face before her eyes averted back to his. He asked, “Do you run quite a bit?”

            “I do,” she admitted. “It’s become quite an addiction.”

            “I like to run, but between work and the family, it’s hard to find time.”

            “Well, if you ever want to join me, I run almost every day at around this time. Sometimes it makes it easier to get motivated if you have a running partner.”

            “Yeah, I should do just that,” Justin replied nodding. “You sure you wouldn’t mind company?”

            “Not at all, I’d love to have you join me,” A little sultry added to her smile. Her subconscious nagged her mind a little bit after her reply. There was a chemistry between them that she couldn’t put her finger on that Vermillion’s team was pushing. Our side motivated distance.

            “My husband used to run with me, but he has knee problems now.”

            Vermillion inspired Justin’s first bold flirtation, that was encouraged by her sexy smile. “Are you sure your husband won’t mind me getting sweating with his gorgeous wife?”

            She smiled warmly, liking the compliment. Then our side caused caution to enter her mind. Her smile faded and she said, “Considering I’m old enough to be your mother, he won’t mind at all.”

            “There’s no way you’re as old as my mother.”

            She couldn’t help grinning again. She liked the younger man. He had a friendly charm that was appealing, and he was so good looking. Tall dark and handsome was what came to mind to describe him. But she felt ancient in his presence and was sure his mother had him late in life. “Well, let’s see, how old was she when you were born?”

            “Seventeen.”

            Her smile faded again. His mother was only a year older than she was. Yet he had said there was no way she was as old as his mother. That was good, right? But then dawning recognition set in. The younger man had reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t put her finger on it until now. That dark wavy hair and the shape of his blue eyes. She remembered a girl a grade ahead of her who had gotten pregnant the summer between her junior and senior year. “Is your mother’s name Becky Russo?”

            A look of astonishment came over his face. “Well it was. It’s Becky Adler now, but how did you know? Were you high school classmates?”

            “Well, she was a grade ahead of me. I didn’t really know her, I just knew of her.”

            He smiled coyly. “You knew of her because she was a pregnant high schooler.”

            She shrugged and nodded. “Pregnant with you no less, my new neighbor.”

            Then a week later, the younger couple discovered they were expecting again themselves.

            “Like I said, patience, the long game,” Vermillion had told me on numerous occasions throughout our association as opponents.

            I hate to admit it, but he was right. Finding out that Justin’s mother was almost her same age quelled her flirtations with Justin for the time being. His wife being with child again postponed his own feelings of amour.

            Then things shifted over time. Justin’s wife was at one time a cheerleader to his quarterback, and homecoming queen to his king. After two kids she struggled to get into a semblance of shape. After the third child, who they would refer to as an ‘opps,’ she didn’t even try. Yet his frequent jogging partner next door became more sleek and lithe by running religiously.

            Then things shifted again. Not long after the older woman turned fifty, she won first place in her age category in a 5K. The next day Justin called the older neighbor to see if she wanted to go for a run. He went next door, taking his phone with him. “I never got a picture of you wearing your medal.”

            “Oh, it’s no big deal,” she replied modestly. She had only been running in 5K’s for two years with the first one at the younger neighbor’s instigation. “I never won first place in the forties category. Since my birthday was only two months ago, I was probably the youngest in the fifties bracket.”

            “Nonetheless you won first place and I want a picture.”

            She struggled to clasp the medal around her neck, so Justin offered to help her. Then a miscommunication opened the door for their not so secret desires for each other to come to fruition. Although they had always behaved physically, never even exchanging a hug, they often teased each other. This teasing evolved into flirting.

            The older woman handed the medal over to Justin. She had a stiff neck, and when she pulled her ponytail aside to make way for him to clasp the medal, she tilted her head to the left to stretch the tight muscles. The younger neighbor mistook this as an invitation to place his lips on the soft skin just below her jaw.

            She froze with my side telling her mind to tell her mouth to stop this right now and obey the Spirit. But Vermillion’s side kept her locked in indecision. They kept her tantalized with intense carnal sensations. The long standing attraction to each other that they both allowed their minds to indulge in fantasy was now rearing its ugly head in reality. My side sent a hard jab at her conscience. She pushed away from her younger neighbor and said, “We better stop.”

            But her shaky giggle, along with her hands still on his chest communicated something other than her words. Then she allowed herself to waver. “Don’t you think?”

            Justin countered her suggestion. “I saw your husband leave with golf clubs twenty minutes ago. My boys won’t be back from Cub Scouts, and my wife and daughter from play group until seven. Just like you, it crossed my mind that this was our chance.”

            “What do you mean ‘just like me?’”

            He smiled coyly. “You know, offering your neck like that. I got the hint and went with it. Don’t change your mind now.”

            “But I…,” she said as my side tried reasoning with her.

            But Vermillion overwhelmed her with carnal desire. All of her impure thoughts about her younger neighbor came to a boil. But an hour later her shower lasted twice as long with twice the amount of soap than if she would have actually went for a run in the July heat. Her hands trembled off and on as she prepared supper afterward with her mind reeling with anxious, guilty thoughts.

            She kissed her husband when he came home and they hugged. He frowned when they separated. “Why are you shaking?”

            “Oh, am I?” she stammered, then lied. “I don’t know, I guess I over did it this afternoon running so soon after the 5K.”

            “Did Justin go with you?”

            “No,” she blurted. “I mean yeah.”

            “No, yeah,” he laughed. “What kind of answer is that? Either he went or he didn’t.”

            “Well, he wasn’t gonna, but then he changed his mind.”

            She could feel her heart pounding, and it reminded her of the Edgar Allan Poe story, ‘The Tell Tale Heart.’ It was a tale of man who killed an old man and hid him under floorboards. Then his guilty conscience kept hearing the old man’s heart beating louder and louder, even though he was dead. But she didn’t kill anybody. Maybe just her marriage.

            Her husband leaned in toward her, sniffed and frowned. “What’s that smell?”

            Her heart beat still faster! Lies, betrayal, adultery! Just confess right now! Her husband was a reasonable man. They had been married for more than a quarter of a century, and until today she had never so much as kissed another man. She made a mistake; her husband would forgive her. Wouldn’t he? They had built a life together, a good life. She just needed to get serious about God again.

            Okay, she might as well own up to it since he clearly suspected. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 18

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 18

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

HE WHO BELIEVES AND IS BAPTIZED WILL BE SAVED (Mark 16:16)

            “All things work together for good to those who love God,” I said, not as a taunt, but as a praise to God.

            “Oh, shut up,” Vermillion responded. “At least Ginger’s actions tainted their so called conversions.”

            “But all four got baptized.”

            “You know as well as I do that it’s the long game, not the short game,” he replied.

            He spoke the truth. The demonic realm often espouses truth. Poison is more likely to be taken if it is diluted with something else. That’s why false religion has done so much damage. That’s how all the world marveled and followed the beast. (Revelation 13:3)

            (Just a reminder, to learn WHO the beast is and WHAT the mark of the beast is, AmazingFacts.Org. has excellent free Bible study guides you can do online.)

            It also helps the demonic realm that human nature is more prone to follow them than God. Living in a fallen world actually means one needs to rebel, albeit in a positive way. Everyone on earth constructed of flesh, bone and blood is in danger of the following Bible text. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who cane know it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9)

            Although Lucy was not desperately wicked, she was desperately wounded after being raped by four men. In the scaring process of this wound, her mind was in denial about a frightening fact. She hadn’t experienced her menstrual cycle since she was violated. Even as she noticed her mid-section begin to gradually expand, her prevalent thought was that she had been eating a lot of ice cream lately. She needed to cut out comfort food since it wasn’t healthy and the brief consolation it afforded wasn’t sustainable.

            As she and Jimmy began to seek truth together, another truth was beginning to nag at her mind. She began to entertain the thought that her lack of having a period could mean she was pregnant. She began to concoct a scheme, for she and Jimmy hadn’t made a decision for Christ yet. They were still smoking funny things and flirting with the chemistry that crackled between them.

            She began to manipulate Jimmy’s oversexed instinct. It worked. She made sure that when they gave into passion, that the lighting was minimal. She didn’t want Jimmy to question why her stomach was slightly out of proportion with the rest of her body.  

            In a subconscious attempt to block her pain, Lucy even convinced herself that the baby was Jimmy’s. The adage of ‘tell a lie long enough or convincingly enough and you believe it yourself’ happened to her. It also happened to my adversaries, like Vermillion and his supreme leader, on a supernatural level.

            When Jimmy literally got caught with his pants down with Ginger, it jarred something with Lucy’s psyche. When it was proven that Ginger set him up, for they discovered the cut phone line and the carelessly discarded spare key, Lucy confessed. “Just so you know, this baby isn’t yours! I’m sorry.”

            “I forgive you,” he said, feeling relieved. He wasn’t sure if that feeling was right or wrong. He was just glad he wasn’t gonna be the parent of two children, by two women, one month apart in age.

            Jimmy knew Lucy meant that one of her sex offenders was in fact the biological father. As painful as it was to admit, the truth was coaxed out of her by the Spirit of God. She stared at him with mouth agape, her eyes wide and filling with tears. Jimmy hugged her and at first she clung to him. He gently said, “It isn’t the child’s fault who the father is.”

            “I know,” she replied before going to her knees sobbing. It was then that the pair decided to postpone their baptism. Between Lucy’s admission, and Jimmy’s ordeal with Ginger, they wanted a little more time to adjust. Jenny and Jake also postponed their intended baptism in solidarity.

            As the next Sabbath approached, Lucy decided that she wanted to get baptized. Between the council of Pastor and Mrs. Samson, and the support of her friends and family, she didn’t want to wait any longer. Vermillion and his host had hoped to discourage or at least taint the baptisms, but they were only delayed one week, and the participants were all the more zealous about their commitment to Christ.

            The plan to destroy only brought beauty from ashes. Lucy gave a testimony to the church on the morning of their baptisms. She felt led to make public her ordeal, even if it only helped one young woman.

            While she made clear that the men who violated were in no way, at all, even slightly justified with their crime against her, she acknowledged her own culpability. The first mistake was indulging in several adult beverages. With lowered inhibitions, she then engaged in exhibitionism by flashing the four college guys. Her third and final mistake was she carelessly found herself alone with them.

            She admitted difficulty getting her mind around her child being a blood relative of one of her rapists. But thanks to Jimmy, she embraced the concept that it wasn’t child’s fault. It occurred to her that the biological father and her child were two separate people.

            Lucy and Jimmy shook hands before they were baptized in Cotton Creek. Then they hugged after they emerged from the watery grave where they honored Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, thereby committing themselves to Him.

            Afterward, Jake wowed the congregation with his acoustic guitar rendition of shall ‘Shall We Gather at the River.’ Then he himself was astounded when Lucy joined him to sing ‘Amazing Grace.’ His astonishment wasn’t that she spontaneously joined him, but at the loveliness of her voice. The two began a collaboration with a song ministry.

            With music being a great joy in both of their lives, they began to spend a lot of time together. They even began writing songs together. It was during one of these collaborations on a song that Lucy began to experience severe cramping. The pain became so intense she fainted. Jake rushed her to the emergency room where she miscarried her baby.

            Jake had been a big source of comfort in the aftermath of her loss. This comfort eventually led to their first kiss. This first kiss led to a conversation with Jimmy. He gave his brother his blessing. He admitted that with Jenny expecting his child, Larry out of the picture, and their faith in God in common, romance between them was beginning to simmer once again.

            September 1, 1991. It was a year to the day the four were baptized. Lucy and Jake, along with Jenny and Jimmy, were married in a double wedding. Pastor Samson, AKA Captain Kirk, officiated.

            Jake became an evangelist, and he and Lucy travelled the world with a song ministry. They figured they would do that until they found themselves with child. Then they would settle down to a pastorship wherever the Lord called. But children were not forthcoming, so they continued bringing hundreds, ultimately thousands, to Lord over the years.

            Jenny and Jimmy welcomed a daughter in April, 1991. They welcomed a son two years later. Jenny was a stay at home mom with their kids until they were school age. Jimmy was blessed by employment with a plumbing distribution company that was employee owned. He came in at just the right window and retired before he was sixty, cashing in on substantial shares of stock.

            For more than two decades, the faithful foursome lived fairly steady lives of loyalty and devotion. However, one of them wandered away from the fold in a disappointing manner. C.S. Lewis once posed the question. ‘If you examined one hundred people who lost their faith, I wonder how many of them had been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?’

            After the four baptisms, I moved on to another assignment, leaving reliable colleagues in charge of guardianship. A quarter of a century later, one of them sought me out and informed me that Vermillion and his minions had successfully lured one of the faithful four into deep sin.

            Before I move on to a new tale involving different people and circumstances, I will wrap up the story of Lucy, Jenny, Jimmy, and Jake in the next couple of chapters. I will try to explain how one fell so far from grace after years of devotion.

            But even we angels do not understand the mystery of iniquity. But, like believing humans, we are strengthened by the unfathomable grace and love of God!

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 17

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 17

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

DO NOT LOOK AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN, BUT AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN… (2 Corinthians 4:18)

            “Where do you think this is all gonna go, Querida?” Vermillion asked, not trying to hide his malicious delight.

            “Hard to tell.”

            “It does look pretty bad for poor ole Jimmy, doesn’t it?” He asked with mock sympathy.

            “It doesn’t look good, but I’m hopeful that the truth will prevail.”

            “There you go with hope again. The problem is Jimmy’s history as a philanderer. Jenny and Lucy were both willing to overlook that history, believing he could change. But boy, oh boy, when Lucy and his brother walked in on Jimmy and Ginger! Talk about entertainment!”

            Vermillion cackled. The demonic realm had scored a sizable victory. You see, when Ginger, who was Jake’s girlfriend, rejected the call to repentance on the last night of the Bible prophecy seminar, she became open to demon possession. In human terms, for her situation with a rebellious heart, it was the last straw.

            Please understand. When Vermillion’s colleague Cinnabar entered Ginger, it wasn’t solely because she rejected a petition to accept Christ at the seminar. It was just the culminating act that had begun when she was fifteen and joined a party playing with a Ouija Board.

            This was a game that was no game. She thought she was playing with the mysteries of the spirit world. Instead they would play her. That seemingly innocent game led her to an interest in the occult. That interest in the occult led to closing her mind to Bible truth and opening it up to demonic control.

            When Jimmy got Jake interested in Bible prophecy, a part of Ginger’s soul wanted deliverance from the powers that gripped her. She felt like something wasn’t right with her soul. To look at her you would never know that the demonic realm was slowly, decisively taking her over. She worked in administration for the school district, liked to party on the weekends, and enjoyed going out on dates. But secretly, she met with a small group practicing black magic.

            Once her soul was given fully over to rebellion, Jimmy unfortunately was to fall into the crosshairs of the demon that controlled her. Cinnabar used her infatuation with Jimmy, coupled with her hostility to discourage these four brand new converts to following the Lord.

            Although Jimmy had a status as a womanizer, he had some personal rules as a lady’s man. Not only did he avoid dalliances with other guy’s gals, he shunned fooling around with any of his buddy’s ex’s as well. So imagine how it appeared when on the eve of getting baptized, two weeks after the Bible prophecy seminar ended, he was caught in a compromising position with Ginger.

            After Jenny revealed to Jimmy that he was the father of her unborn child, his brother Jake had played mediator. Jake was one of those people that was considered a jack of all trades, but master of none, except two. He was a talented guitarist and singer, and he also had a gift for playing peacemaker. He especially had the ability to listen and understand. This aptitude would be  challenged due to his brother’s incident with Ginger.

            At the end of the Bible meetings, Jake and Pastor Samson had managed to unify the tricky triangle his brother found himself in with Jenny and Lucy. Through prayer and reasoning, they achieved establishing Jimmy’s two girlfriends as girls who were just friends. Then the foursome of Jimmy, Jenny, Lucy, and Jake met with the Pastor a half a dozen times for more in depth Bible studies to prepare for baptism.

            Although Jake was a nice looking young man, he wasn’t the male specimen like his younger brother. He often thought that if he had his brother’s movie star looks, or his brother had his talent, it could be a star in the making. Quiet and introspective compared to his charming, social butterfly of a brother, Jake had always struggled to find ‘the one’ when it came to females.

            As he got to know Ginger, he felt like he had found his soulmate. The problem was, he was smitten with her physical beauty and over looked the little signs that defined a self-centered character. He was blinded by her shapely figure, long red hair, and striking blue green eyes.

            In the early evening of Friday, August 24, Cinnabar led Ginger to Jimmy’s trailer. The demonic realm knew that Jimmy went fishing with his roommate. They also knew his roommate was gonna camp at the lake and that Jimmy was going to be home alone. Ginger not only had a desire, but an obsession in her demon possession to seduce Jimmy.

            But when she got there, she discovered that no one was home. Inspired by evil, she went to her car, retrieved a knife, and cut his phone line. With supernatural help, she found a spare key under the deck in a small magnetic case, clinging to a bracket. She was then instructed to leave for a few hours.

            When she returned, she parked her black Datsun 280Z next to Jimmy’s pickup truck. She found him sound asleep in his bed. She crept back out to her car. She retrieved an empty four pack of wine coolers and placed them on the deck table along with half a pack of Virginia Slim cigarettes. She tiptoed back to Jimmy’s room and quietly disrobed every stitch of clothing. She sat in a desk chair and waited.

            On the other side of the mobile home park, Lucy made a phone call. “Hey, Jake, sorry to call so late but something weird is going on with Jimmy. You know how he was a no show at Bible study tonight. Well, now he’s not answering his phone and his answering machine isn’t picking up my calls.”

            “Oh well, I wouldn’t worry. When I got home from Bible study, I discovered he left me a message on my answering machine. He said he got off work early and was going fishing with his roommate. He said he might not make the study. Kind of odd since we’re all getting baptized tomorrow.”

            “Yes it is, and here’s another weird thing. I thought I would see if he was there and still up, so I just drove by his place a few minutes ago. His truck and his motorcycle were both there. But there was a black sports car in the driveway, instead of his roommate’s truck and it looked all dark inside his trailer.”

            Jake felt a chill go up his spine. “Was it a Datsun 280Z?”
            “I don’t know,” she replied, and then described a couple features of the vehicle.

            “That sounds like Ginger’s car,” he responded as he felt his adrenaline spike. “What would she be doing at Jake’s at only minutes before midnight? Something seems fishy.”

            “Do you think she’d hurt Jimmy? Something seemed off with her to me. I sensed something evil.”

            “I don’t think so. But how about I come over, and we check it out?”

            Vermillion could tell I didn’t like the situation either. He was also concerned that their demonic strategy might be derailed. He asked, “Are you not going to try anything to stop Ginger?”

            I wasn’t about to tell him we had instructions not to interfere. I fully trusted God. If human beings could see the end from the beginning, they would see everything God does is right and necessary. That doesn’t mean it is not difficult to watch those we care for go through trials and hardships. However I said, “You forgot to mention Cinnabar.”

            “Ginger is doing it willingly; Cinnabar is just assisting.”

              “Why does she need to assist if Ginger is doing it willingly?”

            “Obviously, being human, Ginger can’t see the bigger picture. Like cutting the phone line, planting the empty alcohol bottles, where the spare key was hidden, and when to set Jimmy up for the fall in his bedroom.”

            “You might as well have just admitted your side uses control and force. Jesus is a Gentleman; He stands at the door and knocks for entrance to the soul.” (Revelation 3:20)

            “So we’re playing it smart and your side isn’t.”

            “You can’t see the unfairness? Once again you can’t have love without freewill.”

            “Once again it comes down to justice,” he replied bitterly, and then departed hastily to watch over his minions.

            At half past midnight, Lucy and Jake parked his Mustang in front of Jimmy’s trailer. After they negotiated the steps of Jimmy’s deck, Jake shined a small flashlight’s beam onto the table with the light illuminated the empty bottles and pack of cigarettes. Both were favorite brands of Ginger.

            They noticed the main door was wide open. After giving a pull on the screen door, they discovered it to be unlocked. Jake flipped on the kitchen light. “Jimmy?”

            Ginger got up from the chair and laid on Jimmy’s bed. Jimmy stirred, and when his brother’s voice was closer as he called a second time, Jimmy blinked sleep from his eyes and turned on a bedside lamp. He gave a start when he saw the naked woman in his bed. “What? Who? Ginger!”

            She sprung on top of him. He bellowed, “Get off me!”

            “Ready to give them a show?” she asked with an eerie purr that gave him goose bumps.

            He scrambled away from her. He had been sleeping in only his shorts. As he rolled off the bed, Ginger clutched them from behind and they slid down his legs as he fell to the floor. Right as he was pulling them back up, Jake and Lucy looked into his room.

            Jimmy’s startled face took in their startled faces. Then he looked at the naked woman in his bed, and then back to his brother and Lucy. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ginger’s voice filled the room instead. “Oops, I guess we got caught.”

            “It’s not what you think,” Jimmy tried.

            “Oh yeah, what do we think?” Jake asked with surprising calmness. “That Ginger just roamed in off the street and climbed into bed with you?”

            “That had to be what happened,” Jimmy tried again. “I swear, I was asleep a minute ago… Alone!”

            “Jimmy, we saw the wine cooler bottles and her cigarettes on your deck,” Jake said crisply.

            Lucy had been breathing hard, then emitted a little squeal and ran from the place. Jake ran after her. She began to walk briskly toward her home, her arms folded in front of her, frowning as if in deep thought. Jake caught up to her. “Lucy, wait.”

            Lucy kept walking but looked at Jake with a bewildered expression. He said, “Listen, Lucy, let’s not jump to conclusions.”

            “Jump to conclusions? I know what I saw.”

            “I know, I know. But the thing is, I’ve never known Jimmy to sleep with his buddy’s ex’s, let alone his brother’s ex, and only a little more than a week after Ginger and I broke up.”

            “Come on, Jake. I saw a naked woman in his bed, and him scrambling to get his shorts on. Plus you saw the empty bottles.”

            “Yeah, I know it looks bad, but there just has to be an explanation.”

            “I’d say it’s one of two things. He either decided he doesn’t want to give up his old life, or he’s under some delusion that you can have something like a bachelor party before one gets baptized.”

            “I’m going with a third option, and that’s that there has to be some explanation.”

            “Even though I can’t believe what I saw; my eyes saw what they saw.”

            “Let’s say you are right. The simple truth of the matter is that both you and Jenny agreed that your relationship with Jimmy should just be friends for the time being. And Ginger is no longer my girlfriend.”

            “Oh, I’m so confused!” Lucy said as she clutched her forehead with her left hand.

            “So you still had, um, feelings for him?”

            “I don’t know,” she whined. “But the reason I was trying to call him tonight was about that night of indiscretion he and I had.”

            “So you wanted to make sure everything was good between you two before you were baptized?”

            “I guess that’s part of it,” she shrugged. “Because things just got more complicated for Jimmy, Jenny and me. And on the day before we all supposed to get baptized together no less.”

            She sighed heavily and looked up into the starry sky. Jake gave her a minute. But she remained silent, so he asked, “Does Jenny know that you and Jimmy, you know, went all the way?”

            “I don’t know if she knows, but she’s going to know.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “I went to the doctor today… I’m pregnant.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 16

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 16

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

AWAKE, YOU WHO SLEEP, ARISE FROM THE DEAD, AND CHRIST WILL GIVE YOU LIGHT (Ephesians 5:14)

            “Whoa, Nelly!” Vermillion bellowed. “Did you see Larry’s face when his hand got caught in the proverbial cookie jar? At least he was able to take a bite before it got slapped. Only too bad the cookie was sweet little Jenny. Too bad she didn’t find out about his deception before she decided to share a bed with him.

            “And what do we have over here, Querida? Your two young Bible students seem to have fornicated. Look at LucyFr cling to Jimmy as they say goodnight for the evening. How sweet of him to stroke her hair and wipe her tears. Tell me, are those tears of joy, regret or bad memories?

            “How ironic, Querida. Ole Jimmy feels the need for something more in life, and he was seeming to find it. But he just can’t seem to keep those pants buttoned up when a lovely young lady bats her eyes at him. It’s looking like it’s over for Mr. Stetson. He’s in more girl trouble now than when he was a playboy! I guess a leopard can’t change its spots.”

            “It ain’t over till it’s over,” I replied mildly, then paraphrased Philippians 1:6. “He that began a good work will complete it.”

            “We’ll see about that,” Vermillion cackled. “Jenny finding out that Jimmy is for sure the father of her child, coupled with LucyFr and Jimmy’s romantic consummation, has solidified a very juicy triangle indeed. Just in time to distract from the last night of the seminar.”

            I felt the desire to tell him to stop calling Lucy ‘LucyFr.’ But if I did, he would only do it all the more. Twenty hours later Vermillion and his minions were busy at the seminar. But my colleagues and myself were there as well, ready to assist the Holy Spirit in a battle for souls.

            Jenny was distraught, discouraged and confused after receiving the news that Jimmy was the father of the child in her womb. She was also angry at Larry’s deception by omission. Especially since the hidden truth had led to his bed.

            In her anger she had handed Larry the keys to his gifted automobile. Technically it was still his as he had not yet signed the title over to her. She then used his phone to call a taxi cab. Uber didn’t exist in 1990.

            Her mind swirled and whirled as she walked to the last night of the Bible prophecy seminar. After paying five dollars for the taxi ride home, she decided to hoof it to the meeting. Although it was more than a couple miles away, she had hoped to get there early enough to enlighten Jimmy about his impending fatherhood. Much to Vermillion’s dismay, she was a bit late.

            This was good. Our side needed the little group of Jimmy, Lucy, Jimmy’s brother Jake, his girlfriend Ginger, as well as Jenny herself, to not be distracted by the baby drama before the meeting started. Pastor Samson, affectionately known as Captain Kirk by his friends and church family, had a powerful message about God’s immense love for humanity.

            He concluded the message with the sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of the world. He declared that God becoming a human being to save fallen humanity was not only the greatest story ever told; it is the greatest story that ever could be told. He then drove home the point of Jesus’s sacrifice.

            Christ had prophesied that he would rise on the third day. But in the midst of the ordeal, as the weight of dying for the sins of the world seemed about to crush him, His human side of His nature overwhelmed Him. For a period of time, He couldn’t see through the portals of the tomb. When He cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” He thought His separation from God the Father was going to be eternal.

            Yet the Son of God went through with His mission anyway! Jesus Christ intended to forfeit His own eternal life so that those who accepted His sacrifice and believed in Him would be able to enjoy eternal life in heaven! There is no better example of selflessness! No greater exhibition of love!

            Pastor Samson concluded with a well-known essay by James Allan Francis. (1864-1928)

            ‘He was born in an obscure village. The child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never travelled more than two hundred miles from where He was born. He did none of the things normally associated with greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He was only thirty three (when He was murdered). His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. One betrayed Him. He was turned over to His enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth. When He was dead He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen (twenty) centuries have come and gone and today Jesus is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that have ever marched. All the navies that have ever sailed. All the parliaments that have ever sat. All the kings that have ever reigned put together. Have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life.’

            Pastor Samson made an alter call to close out the two weeks of Bible teachings. Jimmy, Lucy, Jake, and even Jenny joined the two dozen attendees as they made their way down to the front of the high school auditorium’s stage. Unfortunately, more than double that number made their way to the exit or remained seated. Ginger was one of those exiting.

            Although part of her was moved by Captain Kirk’s description of Jesus’s suffering and courage, her evil heart of unbelief had held sway. Like Vermillion, she didn’t like the direction Jake was going. In her mind, Jake was becoming a religious fanatic.

            Why just last night she tried to initiate a little hanky panky. Jake always eagerly went along with her seductions. But last night he baulked. Then he suggested marriage! He said something about even most non-Christians recognized living together as ‘living in sin.’

            But marriage? They had only been together six months. It had only been three weeks since she moved in with him. She was still adjusting to cohabitation with him. Now he getting religious on top of being a neat freak. Should she break up with him? They already had squabbles about dirty dishes and her undergarments hanging in the bathroom.

            The pastor prayed for those accepting Christ or rededicating themselves to the Savior. Then he suggested that those wishing to be baptized talk to him afterward. Jenny watched as approximately half of the altar call attendees raised their hands when he wanted to see a show of those desiring a full commitment. She chewed her lip as she noticed Jimmy raise his hand along with his two companions. Everything was happening so fast!

            Vermillion sidled up to me as I watched Jenny quickly leave the auditorium and sit on a bench outside to await Jimmy. “Chaos and confusion is working as well on Jenny as lust and desire with Jimmy. Still believe in He who began a good work?”

            “As long as there’s breath there’s hope,” I replied.

            “Show me someone with hope and I in turn will show them to be a naïve fool.”

            “Not if they turn to God’s love. Then they can conquer all.”

            “Oh no, are you gonna start quoting the love chapter now?” He replied with a derogatory tone as he referred to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. “Too bad humans turn to lies over love, huh?”

            “That’s why love for God’s law is perfect converting the soul.” (Psalm 19:7)

            He cackled. “Let’s see how many of these four that went down yonder for the altar call stick with that concept or whether they go the way of lovely Ginger. Jenny even seems to be taking the first step away only minutes after being moved to partake in the altar call.”

            “Like you said, seems to be,” I said, causing him to make a dismissive gesture.

            “You hope in vain,” he said and then grinned maliciously. “Thanks to last night’s indiscretion between Jimmy and LucyFr, more chaos and confusion is going to come out of Jenny’s baby revelation than warmth and bonding.”

            “For now.”

            “You need to be more pessimistic,” Vermillion said bitterly. “You and your righteous army are doing battle in a lost cause.”

            “I beg to differ. Jesus won the decisive battle at Calvary. Instead of humanity being lost, all can find salvation in Christ.”

            “All,” Vermillion snorted. “Then why are many called but only few chosen? (Matthew 22:14) Why the broad gate verses the narrow gate? (Matthew 7:13, 14) The broad leading to destruction, where many enter. The narrow being difficult, where few find it?”

            Once again, the demonic realm knows scripture better than the most devout Christian. I countered. “With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) All who call of the name of Jesus will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

            Vermillion always wanted the last word. Making a reference from the book of Revelation and something it mentions numerous times, he said, “Looking over the world I’m not seeing many spiritual overcomers.”

            As Jimmy exited the auditorium, Jenny arose quickly from the bench and in a rush said, “Jimmy, I need to talk to you.”

            He was a little taken by surprise. Just as Vermillion had hoped. He was tempting Jimmy’s spiritual bliss to begin to evaporate. “About?”

            “It’s rather personal,” she replied. “Can we speak in private?”

            “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” he said, glancing uneasily at Lucy. Lucy looked at her shoes.

            Jenny’s stress morphed into irritation. “Fine. Well, just so you know, I’m now one hundred percent sure that you’re the father of my baby. Have a good night.”

            With that Jenny turned on her heels and briskly walked away, leaving Jimmy and Lucy with jaws hanging open. Jimmy’s brother Jake had missed the news. He had noticed Ginger wasn’t at his car, so he kept walking. He found a note declaring that she didn’t want to wait and had called a friend to pick her up.

            “Jenny, wait,” Jimmy called after her. But she kept going. When he noticed a few people turn and look, he didn’t petition her any further.

            Jimmy and Lucy had driven his pickup because rain was in the forecast. As they walked to his truck, a light drizzle began to fall. They both noticed Jenny walk through the parking lot without getting into a vehicle. As she began to walk down a long sidewalk in the direction of her apartment, Jimmy’s thought became audible. “Where’s the car Larry gave her? She’s more than two miles from her apartment.”

            “Do you suppose it has something to do with what she just told you?” Lucy asked.

            Jimmy looked at her with a bewildered expression. Despite feeling jealous of Jenny, Lucy’s recent spiritual growth gave her empathy. As the drizzle quickly became rain, she said, “You need to offer her a ride.”

            They exited the parking lot and slowed when they got to Jenny. He ordered, “Hey Jenny, get in, I’ll give you a ride home.”

            “No thanks,” Jenny replied without looking at him.

            “Come on, it’s raining.”

            “Despite what you think, I’m not gonna melt like a wicked witch.”

            “Would you just get in?”

            “Just go.”

            He could tell she was gonna be stubborn and someone was coming up behind him. What happened to the sweet, mousy girl from high school? He took Lucy home, only about five minutes away. “You need to go after her,” Lucy suggested.

            “What about us?” Jimmy asked.

            “What about us? Do you mean there’s danger of you and her getting back together if you give her a ride and discuss the baby?”

            “No, I mean, well, it is complicated.”

            “Well, something for you to consider. Despite what we did last night, after what happened tonight, with accepting Jesus at that altar call. Then discussing baptism and more in depth Bible study with the pastor. I’m not gonna fornicate anymore.”

            Jimmy nodded but cringed. He knew that abstinence until marriage was necessary if he wanted to be right with God. But he was also self-aware enough to know that sex was an idol of his. Despite this, he asked, “I don’t want to either. Well, maybe I should put it as I’m not going to.”

            “Good. Now go get her and offer her a ride. I’m sure she’ll accept with me not there. Then you can make peace.”

            Jimmy was relieved when she kissed him back after he leaned in to kiss her goodnight. He hurried back to the roads to Jenny’s apartment. He was dismayed that he made it all the way to her building without seeing her. Then he was bewildered when he recognized his brother’s 68’ Mustang Fastback parked in a stall at Jenny’s building.

            He didn’t know Ginger too well. Did she live in Jenny’s complex too? No, that couldn’t be. She moved in with Jake a couple weeks ago. He knocked on Jenny’s door. He froze in surprise when Jake opened Jenny’s door grinning at him. “Hey, Bro.”

            “What are you doing here?” Jimmy asked.

            “I gave Jenny a ride home, she was walking in the rain.”

(Writers note: I recently saw a three part series on grace by Pastor Ty Gibson on YouTube. The last sermon in particular is what I envisioned my fictional preacher preaching on the last night of the Prophecy seminar. If you are interested, it was entitled ‘Amazing Grace.’ If you choose to watch, please don’t be concerned about the length of time shown. Although the preliminaries are quite lengthy, by fast forwarding Ty begins speaking at the 1 hour and 7 minute mark. If you are interested in the first two as well, the first is called ‘Theater of Grace,’ and he starts speaking at the 59 minute mark. The second is called ‘Saved by Grace.’ It starts a little before the 42 minute mark. I was very blessed by these talks! I hope you are as well if you decide to check it out! P.S. It is not necessary to watch the first two to grasp the message in the third.)

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 15

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 15

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

FOR HE (GOD) KNOWS THE SECRETS OF THE HEART (Psalm 44:21)

            “Human existence is so filled with ironies and contradictions,” Vermillion lamented, but with glee. Talk about contradiction. He then he quoted part of Romans 8:28 as a question. “Do you still believe all things work together for good?”

            The demonic realm knows scripture better than the brightest human being. That’s why the religious world is so fraught with error. Evil forces have expertly used false shepherds to twist scripture. I finished the part that he left off.  “To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Yes, I do believe.”

            He cackled. “Oh yeah? Which of these urchins is called to His purpose? Jimmy, who has never been more distracted by relationships with the opposite sex? Jenny, who has convinced herself that she is carrying Larry’s grandchild, not realizing he is deceiving her by omission of the truth? Or LucyFr, who was permanently damaged by her rapists?”

            “God is drawing Lucy and she is slowly following. He will heal her when she learns to submit to Him,” I interjected.

            “If, not when. She’s as wrapped up in her mixed feelings about Jimmy as she is about her desire for personal revival. Just look at her face right now. It’s so filled with anguish not even a minute after a whole hour of being enraptured by the Bible seminar.”

            Right as the meeting closed, Jimmy told Lucy he needed to talk to Jenny. But Jenny had bolted, ignoring his petition to talk. He chased after her as she jogged to her car. Lucy gave him the silent treatment as he took her home.

            “See you tomorrow?” he tried as she climbed off the back of his motorcycle.

            She ignored him and walked toward her front door. “Lucy, let’s talk.”

            She continued to ignore him as she reached for the door knob. “Lucy, please.”

            She paused, then turned and walked back to him with fold her arms in front of her. “What’s there to talk about? I’m done being played by you. I’ll take myself to the meeting tomorrow.”

            “Who’s playing who? You know Jenny is, um, sort of my girlfriend. I don’t mean to be a jerk, but you kissing me when she pulled up to my driveway the other day got me into a whole world of trouble.”

            “You kissed me!”

            “You asked me to!”

            “So it’s my fault you complied when you sort of had a girl friend?”

            He frowned at her saying ‘had’ instead of ‘have.’ “I suppose that is a fair point.”

            “I don’t mean to sound full of myself, but you didn’t exactly seem repulsed when you were kissing me.”

            “I wasn’t. It was quite nice.”

            “Well then, if you find yourself without a sort of girlfriend, maybe we could try it again.”

            Lucy turned to go into her home. Jimmy grabbed her hand and pulled Lucy into his arms. “You said yourself I ‘had’ a girlfriend rather than ‘have.’”

            Jimmy was about to put his mouth on hers when he saw how startled her lovely large eyes were. Then he noticed the slight tremor. He gently pushed her away. “Lucy, I’m sorry… I better go.”

            Then she grabbed his hand. “No, don’t. I know you’re not like that. I feel safe with you. It’s just that sudden move grabbing my hand caused a bit of a flash back. Will you hold me?”

            “Of course,” Jimmy said. He grinned at how his chin rested perfectly on top of her head. Her dark curls were soft, silky, and smelled like peach shampoo. His grin vanished when a gray Monte Carlo stopped and he saw the aghast face of Jenny staring at them. Not again! She shook her head and drove away. Jimmy didn’t even try to stop her.

            Although disappointed with Jimmy, Jenny wasn’t all that upset. She had felt immature when she blew off Jimmy’s request to speak after the meeting. She simply decided to swing by his place and nip in the bud whatever romantic inclinations they had going. She hoped to amicably shift their relationship to strictly friends.

            She already felt their romantic possibilities were breached after she found Jimmy’s face connected to Lucy’s. Then she herself severed them completely by sleeping with Larry. She didn’t even understand why she developed a snit toward Jimmy when she had now given herself over to Larry. Maybe because she felt Jimmy started it.

            But did he? After all he tried to give her a car! How humiliated he must have felt when she basically told him to keep it because Larry had given her a better one. Then to add insult to injury, she said I can’t spend time with you because I promised to make dinner for the guy who gave me a more desirable automobile.

            She put her car in reverse. When she stopped in front of the couple, they stood side by side with unreadable expressions. Dumbfounded? Guilty? Apprehensive? Probably all three. She mustered as friendly a voice as she could manage. “Jimmy, can I talk to you for a minute?”

            “Sure,” he said uneasily.

            “I’ll see you later,” Lucy said and quickly stepped toward her front door. But then she covertly stepped aside to eavesdrop.

            Jimmy bent toward Jenny’s open window. “It’s not what you think.”

            She wanted this break up to be amicable. Was such a brief fling even a break up? True, they did participate in the most intimate act two human beings could do. Casual sex was so sleezy. What she had with Larry was much deeper, wasn’t it?

            Now because of that night of reckless debauchery, she could not be one hundred percent sure that Larry was the grandfather of the child growing in her womb. How could she even know the odds of whether it was Jimmy’s or not? What was the chance it was his anyway? One percent? Five percent? Maybe ten?

            She forced a smile. “Oh, what do I think?”

            “I know how it looks, but Lucy has been through a difficult ordeal,” Jimmy told her, but then became careful. He promised Lucy not to reveal to anyone what happened to her. “I was just comforting her.”

            “That’s understandable,” Jenny replied sarcastically. “I’m sure that’s the manner you would comfort one of your buddies if they were troubled.”

            Jimmy stood erect. Man was that ever a fair point! He didn’t know what to say and had no excuse. She let him off the hook. “Look, Jimmy, let’s just be friends. The reality is we just aren’t suited for each other.”

            “What do you mean we’re not suited for each other? We were jellying just fine until Larry entered the picture.”

            “So you figured me being reunited with an old friend gave you license to start kissing with that cute little Betty Boop?”

            “Reunited with an old friend you did stuff with,” Jimmy said, using air quotes for ‘did stuff with.’

            “And that’s why we should just be friends,” Jenny replied calmly. “Okay?

            “I can’t believe you turned out to be the most complicated woman I was ever involved with. In high school you were so simple and unpretentious. Now you’re pregnant and it could be mine, but probably not. I buy you a car, but the friend you did stuff with gave you a better one. I don’t know, this whole situation is just…”

            “I know. And I really do appreciate all you did for me. But I think it is in both of our best interests to go our separate ways.”

            “What about the baby?”

            “Jimmy, it’s only a slim chance it’s yours. If it turns out to be yours, I will be completely cooperative with you being involved in his or her life if you want to be.”

            “Fair enough.”

            “Friends?” She offered her hand with a smile.

            “Friends.” He forced a smile back as they shook.

            “Don’t you love chaos in personal lives, Querida?” Vermillion asked as we watched the seen unfold from the invisible spirit realm.

            He knew very well that I didn’t. So he asked, “Aren’t you gonna try to throw up a road block with the passion over here and the drama over there?”

            “Freewill, Vermillion. You know more often than not, things need to play out.”

            Vermillion was going to set up a devastating scenario for Jenny, but it would ultimately be for her own good. I was more worried for Jimmy and Lucy. Lucy was vulnerable and very drawn to Jimmy. Jimmy was, well, amorous and very attracted to Lucy. I also foresaw that they were gonna participate in mind numbing substances again.

            Although he and Lucy were being drawn by the Holy Spirit, they were both new to deep spirituality and living out Bible truth. They both had sinful issues and habits to break. But that is why I love the hymn ‘Just as I Am.’

            Come to Jesus just as you are, with all your faults. He died to save sinners! You have to begin somewhere, and the foot of the cross is the perfect place. Follow the Spirit of God and He will clean up your life, no matter what sins have you shackled. This is what the book of Revelation is admonishing when it calls for believers to become overcomers. Walking in grace day by day, and learning to behold Jesus to become a changed person.

            Lucy and Jimmy took a step forward at the Bible meeting that evening. But then took a  step back when Lucy produced a slim white cylinder from her purse. “I’m home alone. Do you want to come in and  help me dispose of this?”

            Jimmy thought better of smoking it with her. The Bible meetings were getting through to him about personal reform. But as Lucy looked at him with her big round brown eyes with gold flecks, he thought that she really did resemble Betty Boop and changed his mind.

            When most of it was gone, Lucy started laughing. “Did your girlfriend really call me Betty Boop?” she asked.

            “Former girlfriend,” he corrected. “Yes, she did.”

            She frowned, but giggled. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.”

            “I’d say compliment. Betty Boop is probably the most attractive cartoon woman ever. But Daphne from Scooby Doo could give her a run for her money.”

            They both giggled some more, then Lucy bit her lip. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

            She went to her room and put on a short tight dress with high heels. Then she grabbed a comb and parted her black curls down the middle. She went back out to the living room. Jimmy’s face became serious. He stood in awe for several seconds before he stepped toward her.

            Over at Larry’s house, more indiscretion was taking place. He still wasn’t home from Des Moines. But Jenny had swung by her place and picked up some lingerie. She put it on and went to Larry’s bed and waited to surprise him. But the surprise was to be on her.

            Not even ten minutes after she dressed provocatively, she heard a key in the front door. She heard noises in the kitchen, then the microwave binged. She lost patience and went to surprise him in the kitchen. She saw a body stooped over rummaging in the refrigerator. “Hey big fella, I’ve been waiting for you.”

            The person jumped, startled, and turned toward Jenny. It was Devin! “What are you doing here?”

            “What am I doing here, what are you doing here?” Devin demanded. “And dressed like that!”

            “I… Um… Was waiting for your D… I was waiting for Larry.”

            “You were waiting for my dad dressed like that? Are you and my dad…”

            Jenny bit her lip as she blushed three shades of red.

            “Unbelievable! You and my dad!”

            Jenny became defiant. “He’s stepping up and being man. He’s gonna be a father to the baby you wanted me to abort.”

            “Is he now?” Devin seemed to mock. “That’s interesting. So did he tell you that I’m not the father of your baby?”

            Jenny frowned. “You do know I didn’t get an abortion.”

            “Whether you did or didn’t is irrelevant. I’m not the father.”

            “Devin, you don’t understand, there’s only a slim chance the baby is the other guy’s. You know, given the timing of my monthly cycle.”

            “I’m afraid you don’t understand. I had a vasectomy before you and I ever, how should I put it? Co-mingled.”

            “I don’t understand.”

            “After my dad set us up, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have kids. So he got me an appointment with a doctor friend of his since it is unacceptable for a childless guy to get snipped.”

            “So why did you offer to pay for an abortion even though it wasn’t yours?”

            He shrugged. “A payoff I guess, so you would keep my sexuality a secret.”

            “I’m getting out of here!” Jenny declared.

            “Don’t go on my account.”

            “Why are you here anyway?”

            “My condo got painted today, and Larry said I could spend the night.”

            Jenny went to the bedroom, scrambled out of her lingerie and got dressed. She opened the front door to flee but stopped in her tracks. Both she and Larry looked at each other with surprise on their faces. Devin walked up behind them chewing on a burrito he had heated in the microwave. Larry looked from Jenny to his son, and then back to Jenny. “I thought you had to work tonight.”

            Her eyes narrowed, and her jaw clenched and unclenched. “And I thought Devin was the father of my child.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 14

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 14

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

YOU WILL SEEK ME AND FIND ME, WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART (Jeremiah 29:13)

            “Ho, ho, ho, wasn’t that interesting, Querida?” Vermillion said as we watched Jenny speed away from Jimmy.

            He petitioned her to stop, but it was in vain. A minute earlier she had driven up to Jimmy’s driveway and found him in a tight lip lock with Lucy. Since the night she had gone to bed with him a little more than a month earlier, he had now made time with two women besides herself.

            “The stresses of life are another useful tool, my former friend,” Vermillion declared.

            “Sure seems like a long way from Lucifer’s original argument that God’s government was unjust and restrictive,” I told him.

            “What do you mean?”

            “You know what I mean. There was perfect harmony in heaven until iniquity was found in Lucifer. Then the infection spread to you and a third of the angelic host. Instead of repenting, you all rebelled, forcing our Heavenly Father to remove you. Then you spread the infection to humanity. Now you go about with fiendish pleasure trying to destroy or at least disrupt human lives.”

            “God had no right to cast us out. He was afraid of Lucifer’s superior leadership.”

            “So this sinful world, with all its pain suffering, all of its wars and strife, all of the poverty, hunger, and violence is superior leadership?”

            “It would have been different if we had been allowed to stay.”

            “Different how? Your hate and rebellion was becoming unstoppable.”

            “Sinful human beings have no right to take our place in heaven. Once again, you call it hate, I call it justice.”

            “Disrupting these lives is justice? Possibly destroying them?”

            “That and it is just plain fun,” he replied laughing wickedly. Then he began to stir, like a witch at a cauldron. “Lust, passion, jealousy, insecurity, what a stew in the brew!”

            Vermillion was mainly referring to Jenny in that moment. I normally try to refrain from dialogue with the opposition, but I did not like the direction this was going. He knew as well as I did that Devin wasn’t the father of the child Jenny was carrying, Jimmy was, and he was successfully driving a wedge between them.

            We watched as Jenny drove the car Larry had given her toward his home. Her mind’s eye saw Jimmy and Lucy kissing. Then she recalled Larry and her accidently catching the corner of each other’s mouths as they exchanged a friendly goodbye kiss that night after dinner. Was it an accident? Was it a sign?

            She recalled their conversation over dinner. Larry expressed regret over pushing her off onto his son. But back then, as their relationship turned more and more romantic, he said he felt it was still too soon after his wife’s death. Not to mention their twenty plus year age difference. Jenny countered with it had been a year since Linda had passed away. By the end of the topic, she had concluded that Larry had sacrificed his own desires for Jenny so his son could have her.

            Yes, this is meant to be, Jenny thought. Although Jimmy was movie star handsome and twenty years younger than Larry, he was clearly a philanderer. She figured his new found religious interest was just a passing phase. Plus, Larry was likely the grandfather of her child, or so she thought. But what if he isn’t? Would Jimmy want to be involved in his child’s life?

            She told herself that she was counting chickens before they were hatched. She needed to see Larry since all signs pointed to him. He had regret over giving her to Devin. The corners of their mouths touching as they kissed goodbye, giving her a longing for the time when their kisses were more intimate. Then there was finding Jimmy kissing Lucy the way she had wanted to kiss Larry.

            Larry’s kind gray-blue eyes peered at Jenny over reading glasses. A Tom Clancy novel was in his left hand. His home was so cozy and comfortable compared to Jimmy’s bachelor pad trailer. What a wonderful, secure man Larry would be to share a life with and to raise her child with. “Jenny, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?”

            “That remains to be seen,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Our kiss goodnight wasn’t satisfying enough. I stopped by so we could do it right.”

            Before he knew what was happening, her arms looped around his neck and her mouth was on his.

            “Well, Jenny, that sure was a pleasant surprise. But I’m afraid I don’t understand. A half hour ago you were off to see your fella.”

            “Well, I found my fella kissing another woman.”

            “Ah, I see,” he said, deflating a little, even though his right hand still rested on her lower back. “So I’m a rebound then.”

            “Is recovering from a flat, fast relationship a rebound? I did have a huge crush on him in high school. And I was infatuated with him the last few weeks. But my feelings for you are much stronger and longer. I admit, I resented you for a long time for dumping me and setting me up with Devin. But now that I fully understand the reasons… Well.,,”

            “Well what?” he asked hopefully.

            She laughed then became serious. “When we were sort of involved, I made it pretty clear that I was ready to take things to another level. Instead you gave me to another man, albeit your son. Not only did I resent it, I felt a humiliated. Now we’ve repaired the breach, and my presence here should be a pretty clear signal.”

            Larry stared at her dumbfounded. His conscience and lust for her were doing battle. There is an element of truth to the old slogan, ‘The devil made me do it.’ But the demonic realm can only tempt, it cannot compel. The same is similar for my side. We can convict the conscience, but it is up to the individual as to whether they follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

            Larry knew something that Jenny didn’t. He knew who the father of her child was, and it wasn’t his son. He knew his son was unable to have children. He also knew that his son was gay, and he had hoped to change him by pairing him with sweet Jenny.

            After Devin decided he was interested in a relationship with Jenny, he insisted that his father arrange a vasectomy with a doctor friend of his. He absolutely did not want kids, ever. He also demanded his father not tell her he was ever gay. Now that he and his boyfriend had broken up, he was adamant that it was only a passing phase.

            Jenny put her hands on her hips and aimed a coy smile at Larry. “Let me put it this way. When I told you I was ready to take things to the next level and you turned me down, that was strike one. When you manipulated me into Devin’s arms, that was strike two. So right now, tonight, the game is in your hands Larry. Do you want to strike out, or hit a homerun?”

            Back at Jimmy’s trailer, after he had watched the taillights of Larry’s gift to Jenny disappear, Lucy said, referring to their kiss as Jenny drove away, “Sorry about that.”

            He looked at her. The mischievous smile she wore made him think her comment was disingenuous. He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

            “So what is it?”

            “Your guess is as good as mine,” he replied and then stepped toward the door to his home. “I need a beer.”

            “I thought you didn’t have any.”

            “I don’t, they do,” he said referring to his roommate and his poker buddies.

            “I want one.”

            “You’re not old enough.”

            “Just don’t tell anyone.”

            “Alright, but as long as you leave your moped here overnight.”

            “My trailer is only like two football fields away.”

            “That’s plenty of distance to do yourself damage after half a joint and beer or two.”

            “Two? Okay, deal, I’ll leave it here. But you have to walk me home.”

            “Whatever,” Jimmy waved a dismissive hand and disappeared into his trailer.

            Half a minute later, Lucy was zoned out, staring at Jimmy’s door. All of sudden, pounding footsteps, heaving breathing, and then a voice. “Hey.”

            Lucy let out a bloodcurdling scream. Jimmy burst out of the door and flew down the steps with a can in each hand. “Lucy, what’s wrong?”

            “Dude, it’s just me,” Jimmy’s brother declared, raising his hands in a stick em up position as Lucy clutched and grabbed at Jimmy. He put his arms around her and felt her shaking like a leaf. His first thought was that she was overreacting. But then he recalled the trauma she had endured in Florida. He kissed the top of her head as he held her tight.

            He noticed a couple of neighbors that came out of their doors. “Everything is fine. My brother snuck up on my girlfriend here and scared her.”

            “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Jake Stetson declared to all listening as a tall, lithe woman came running up wearing gym shorts and a sports bra.

            “What was that scream?” Jake’s girlfriend asked, breathing hard, hands on hips and long red hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

            Jimmy said, “Jake ran up and terrified um, ah, Lu…”

            “His girlfriend,” Lucy interrupted as he felt her relax. She looked up at him and frowned. “That’s what you called me.”

            “It slipped,” Jimmy replied sheepishly. Then to his brother, he asked, “What are you guys doing here?”

            “We’re out for a run,” Jake replied as he scowled at his brother who was lighting a cigarette. “You know, we’re trying to be healthy, unlike you sitting around smoking and drinking. Anyway, we started looking at that book you gave us the other day. Ginger and I were wondering if those meetings you talked about are still going on?”

            “They are,” Jimmy answered. “There’s another one tomorrow. As a matter of fact they’re gonna talk about America in Bible prophecy.”

            “Can we go?” Jake asked.

            “Of course, it’s a public event.”

            “Do they charge?”

            “No, they only ask for donations. Low pressure though. And they were giving those books out for free, so I grabbed half a dozen to give out to you, Ginger, and Jill, and threw them a twenty.”

            “What’s with the title?” Ginger asked. “‘The Great Controversy?’ What controversy?”

            (Writer’s note: This book can be purchased on Amazing Facts website. Their paperback title goes by ‘The Rise and Fall of Jerusalem.’ There are also free Bible study guides you can do on line. Plus plenty of other inexpensive materials.)

            “From what I gather, it’s talking about good vs. evil. Christ vs. Satan. Did you read the chapter ‘The Origin of Evil’?”

            “We did,” Ginger said.

            “It doesn’t look like these Bible meetings are keeping you from your evil,” Jake scolded mildly, as he watched his brother take a sip of beer and then a drag on his cigarette.

            “To each his own, Stud Muffin,” Ginger told Jake.

            “Did you actually come here to lecture me, Stud Muffin?” Jimmy asked with a grin.

            “Thanks a lot, Pumkin,” Jake told Ginger, then he turned to Jimmy. “I’m just trying to figure out  how it was my feral brother, rather than our straight laced sister, got me interested in something Bible related all of a sudden.”

            “Life tiz a mystery, Jacob. How about we go sit on the deck and discuss the mysteries of the universe? And how one becomes a Stud Muffin.”

            “Oh, I think you already know that,” Ginger said a flirtatious grin, causing Jake to squint at her.

            Several hours later and four miles away, Jenny awoke when she felt Larry sit on the edge of the bed, with a cup of coffee in his hand. Sunrise was peeking through the cracks of the window. “Good morning, Angel.”

            Jenny blinked sleep from her eyes, then smiled dreamily up at him. “Good morning.”

            He kissed her forehead. “Listen, I’m golfing with some old friends in Des Moines. I’ll be gone all day. You’re welcome to whatever is in the fridge or cupboards. There’s coffee in the pot. Stay as long as you like. Actually I hope you’re still here when I get back, but I’ll understand if you’re not. So when you leave make sure you lock up.”

            “I will. I have to work this evening.”

            “Okay, I love you, Honey,” he told her, leaning down and kissing her mouth.

            “I love you too,” she replied and then immediately remembered that she and Jimmy had expressed those very words only days ago. Apparently they didn’t mean them. Did she and Larry?

            “Poor little Jenny is confused,” Vermillion said with a mocking tone. “Just wait until Larry’s dark secrets come to light. Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

            “I guess you’d know about deception,” I said. “You and your cohorts are experts.”

            “We are, indeed, Querida, and it’s been a joy instructing Larry. He masterfully captured Jenny into his web. I cannot wait until Jenny finds out the truths he has concealed. I can’t believe he thinks he will get away with it.”

            Jenny couldn’t get back to sleep, so she got up and poured a cup of coffee. She opened the curtains in the bedroom, then stepped back toward the bed. She stopped as she noticed a book on Larry’s desk. She recognized it from the Bible prophecy seminar those first couple nights. ‘The Great Controversy.’ She wanted something to read so she shrugged, picked it up, propped a pillow against the head of the bed and began to read.

            The merriment left Vermillion’s countenance. “Did you arrange for her to see it?”

            I did something similar to a shrug.

            ‘The Great Controversy’ was not only a book of religious history, but a book that taught prophecy. She read some of the later chapters first. After about an hour she wondered if she had been too hasty in following Larry’s advice to blow off the Bible prophecy seminar.

            She went to the beginning of the book. Jenny was an avid reader and began to quickly devour the religious history, starting with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. She read about the dark ages, and the papal persecutions which lead to the reformation. It was early afternoon and she had become so absorbed with the material that she hadn’t eaten or showered. After she did both, she read a little while longer.

            She took a nap, and when she awoke she realized that it was less than an hour before her shift at the restaurant. She wasn’t feeling up to it. She never called in sick, yet she had covered shifts not her own countless times due to others calling in. She decided she wanted another evening with Larry now that their relationship had taken a dramatic shift. He would be so surprised! So she picked up the phone to call the restaurant.

            At 6:30 Larry still wasn’t back from Des Moines. On a whim she decided to go to the Bible prophecy seminar. Then she would come back and surprise Larry. She went home, changed and made the auditorium a minute or two after they started the meeting.

            Jimmy sat with Lucy, his brother Jake, and Jake’s girlfriend Ginger. Jimmy noticed the ever so subtle noise of the auditorium door opening after the doors had been shut. Out of habit when he used to turn to find Lucy coming in, he looked behind him and toward the doors. He watched Jenny take a seat in the same area Lucy had a few times. What was she doing here? How strange!

            When he first came to the meetings he was sitting with Jenny, and Lucy was sneaking in late. Tonight he was sitting with Lucy and watching Jenny sneak in late, and probably occupying a chair Lucy had been in before. He felt like he was in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone!’

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 13

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 13

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

THROUGH THE LORD’S MERCIES WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING. GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS. (Lamentations 3:22, 23)

            “Poor Jimmy,” Vermillion mocked. “So new to love and it happens with two women simultaneously. Yet one is likely pregnant by another guy, and the other just related an ugly story he will never forget. Not only the words of the horrific tale, but the tremble of her body with the snot and slobber coming from her pretty face slimming onto his shirt. Look at his body language and how much he’d like to push her away.”

            “But he isn’t pushing her away,” I responded. We watched as he hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head. She pushed away and looked at him. He pulled his t-shirt up and wiped the tears from her eyes, the mucus from her nose, and saliva from her chin.

            “I’m sorry,” she lamented. “I’m so disgusting.”

            “No big deal, it’s just an old t-shirt” he said with a gentle laugh.    

            “I don’t just mean your shirt.”

            “What happened to you wasn’t your fault.”

            “How can you say that? I drank more than I should have. I flirted and teased inappropriately.”

            “And that gave those guys the right to violate you?”

            Lucy just looked at him with a bewildered expression. So he continued, “I’ve actually been hot and heavy with women before and they have said no. And I respected that no means no. So I’m not gonna excuse those guys even a little bit.”

            “You actually told Lexi no,” Lucy said. He nodded. So she asked, “Was that hard?”

            “It wasn’t easy,” he admitted. “But on the other hand, it was easier than being told no.”

            “Was that the only time you told a girl no?”

            He thought of Jenny and the night she seduced him. He had tried to tell her no for her own sake, but his desire for her overcame his will to behave. “Not exactly. But Lexi was the first time I followed through.”

            “For what it’s worth, it really, really impressed me.”

            He shrugged.

            “I don’t know if I was more pleased because I was jealous,” she continued. “Or because you seemed to have integrity.”

            “You were jealous?” he asked with both a frown and smile.

            “Yes,” she said utterly serious. “I’ve had a bit of a crush on you ever since you moved into this mobile home court last year. Then Lexi started talking about you and how much you were frustrating her. She had never had a guy play hard to get before.”

            “In all honesty, until a few days ago I didn’t know your name. But you and your moped do seem familiar. But now that I know you, I have a bit of crush on you as well.”

            Jimmy frowned. Should he be telling a girl that he had a crush on her when he had a girlfriend? Did he have a girlfriend? Should a girlfriend be making dinner for another man? The other man was likely the grandfather of the baby she was carrying. The other man was a guy she did “stuff with” before she became involved with his son. How was it his love life was never more complicated? He was trying to do right, but everything seemed all wrong.

            “Really? You have a crush on me even after what I told you?”

            “Like I said, it wasn’t your fault. But even if you felt that you played a role in what happened. If I’ve learned anything from these Bible meetings, it’s that God can forgive anything.”

            “Would you believe I’ve never even kissed a guy?”

            “You hang out with Lexi’s gang, and you haven’t dated or fooled around?”

            “The boy that lived next door to me before we moved into the mobile home court has been my boyfriend for almost two years. He’s a year older than me.”

            “You’ve had a boyfriend for two years and you’ve never kissed?”

            “He’s gay, in the closet, and I’m his mask. He’s been with his boyfriend even before we started pretending. It’s worked for me as well. No one pressures me to fool around with guys. They assume I’ve been having regular sex with my so called boyfriend.

            “I see.”

            Lucy’s eyes looked startled. “Opps! I just told you another secret!”

            “You never said his name.”

            “It wouldn’t be hard to find out. Lexi or Amy or any of them could tell you who he is.”

            “Who would I tell?”

            “Your girlfriend,” she replied, but Jimmy waved a dismissive hand. She gave him a little shove. “You need to tell me a secret.”

            “Oh, come on, what, are we in junior high school?”

            She took hold of his hands, and he was surprised at how natural it felt. “Please. Surely a guy like you has some secrets.”

            “A guy like me, what’s that supposed to mean?”

            “I happen to know through Lexi’s infatuation with you, that you were a player. That’s one of the reasons she felt frustrated by your rejection. It was like, what’s wrong with me that I’m not good enough for a womanizer like Jimmy Stetson?”

            “I resent that implication.”

            “You earned it. Now tell me a secret.”

            “Jenny’s pregnant.”

            She dropped her hands from his as a stunned expression came over her face. “Your girlfriend is pregnant?”

            He explained the scenario of him becoming reacquainted with Jenny and how she came to be with child.

            “Wow! So the baby likely isn’t even yours, but you’re gonna treat it as if it is?”

            “We’ll see,” he said with a shrug. That had been his original plan, but so much seemed up in the air now. His old lifestyle. The new direction he seemed to be heading with his newfound interest in the Bible. Larry nudging back into Jenny’s life. Jenny not seeming all that interested in what they were learning at the Bible meetings. And now this infatuation with Lucy. This desire to protect her, which felt similar to his desire to protect Jenny.

            Lucy looked over his shoulder into the distance. She wore a vacant expression. Then her brown eyes with gold flecks took on a glassy, watery appearance. Jimmy waited and she eventually looked at him. “Can I tell you another secret?”

            “Sure,” he replied quietly.

            “Those guys in Florida,” she said and then paused.

            She seemed to be waiting for a response, so he replied, “A huh.”

            “They didn’t use protection.”

            His first thought was an STD. But when the tears spilled from her eyes, he knew what was about to come out of her mouth. “I got pregnant.”

            He uneasily stuffed his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “I see… When is it due?”

            “There is no due date. I got an abortion.”

            She put her face into her hands and began to sob. He reached to pull her in for a hug but recalled her saying ‘don’t touch.’ But then she said ‘no, do hug me.’ He opted for words instead. “It’s okay.”

            “It’s okay? No, it’s not okay! How can you say getting pregnant by your rapists is okay? How can you say killing your baby is okay?”

            “Poor choice of words,” he replied. “I didn’t know what else to say.”

            “That’s because I’m vile, disgusting and dirty.”

            “No, you’re not!” he said more aggressively than he intended, But it was the right move. She stopped crying and looked at him with wonder. “You were the victim of a violent crime. Don’t give me you teased them and flashed them. Guys go to strippers all the time and don’t track them down and rape them. Remember what the pastor ended with tonight? God’s forgiveness cleanses us.”

            He was encouraged when she nodded slightly. She sat against his Chevy Chevette and began to rummage in her small purse. She pulled out a joint and lit it, inhaling deeply, then coughed.

            “Here we go, Querida,” Vermillion began to boast. “This is where the advantage shifts to me. Get them off track before they get on track.”

            “Maybe,” I admitted, and then paraphrased Philippians 1:6. “But He who began a good work in them will finish it.”

            “Well, my former friend, I’m gonna abort that plan just like Lucy aborted her baby.”

            “They’ve already tasted and seen that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

            “Ah, but life is bitter. And complex. Look over there, Querida. Larry is kissing Jenny on the cheek as he leaves. Oops, he caught the corner of her mouth. Hee, hee, hee. With her blush and shy smile, he thinks she caught the corner of his mouth on purpose. Hee, hee, hee. Now he’s kissing her full on the lips. Oh what a good girl, gently pushing him away like that. But her bashful giggle and fluttering eyelids just told him, not now… But maybe.

            “Now let’s see how loosey goosey Lucy and Jimmy get with that little stick of rolled up weed, Querida. Now that Larry’s gone, Jenny wants to make sure everything is good between her Jimmy. Are you gonna stop Jenny? Are you gonna stop Lucy and Jimmy?”

            He knew that I couldn’t stop them. Distract, inspire, impress, yes things like that. He also knew in most ways he had the advantage. His side controlled the wide gate, that most go through. My side controlled the narrow gate which sadly fewer in number find. (See Matthew 7:13, 14)                       

            But when a person submits to God, they are an unstoppable force. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. But the key is submitting to God. (See James 4:7). Unfortunately, for the moment anyway, Lucy and Jimmy were in the process of shutting the door on the light.

            Jimmy had only occasionally smoked marijuana; the last time being more than a year ago. By Lucy’s coughing, he could tell she wasn’t overly experienced herself. He intuited she had only recently started smoking pot to escape the emotional pain from her spring break ordeal.

            She extended the wacky tobacky to Jimmy. He took it and sat next to her. As a cigarette smoker he did not cough after taking a drag. Inebriating substances are a big time deception. The early euphoria is often replaced with addiction. As one Guns-n-Roses song proclaimed, ‘I used to do a little but a little wouldn’t do it so a little got more and more. I just kept trying to get a little better, said a little better than before.’

            “Where did you get this?” Jimmy asked. “You are a feisty little gal, but this does surprise me big time.”

            “It’s a secret. I can’t betray my dealer,” she replied and then giggled. Then he giggled, then they laughed so hard they were rocking two and fro and back and forth. After a few minutes of this, they settled into a mellow zone out for several more minutes.

            Then Lucy hoped up suddenly and declared, “I better go.”

            Jimmy arose as well. “Going to the meeting tomorrow?”

            “A huh.”

            “Why don’t you swing by, and we can ride there together on your moped.”

            This idea gave them another round of laughing. Then she said completely serious, “Maybe you could pick me up.”

            “I better not, I have a girlfriend.”

            “Do you?”

            “I don’t know.” This comment caused yet more chortling.

            “Since you don’t know, would you mind kissing me?”

            “I certainly wouldn’t mind, but I probably shouldn’t.”

            She nodded and he noticed a look of sadness spread into her countenance. He knew what she was thinking. I’m vile, I’m dirty, I’m disgusting. So he said, “One friendly kiss wouldn’t hurt though.”

            He was six foot one compared to her five foot four. So he leaned down and put his lips to hers. He intended it to only be a second long peck. But her arm draped over his neck as he began to pull away. So he kissed her again, and her right arm joined her left. Then his hands went around her waist, and they stayed connected for a minute or two before Jimmy was only vaguely aware of a car approaching.

            The gray Monte Carlo stopped at his driveway, drawing his full attention. He broke the lip lock with Lucy and looked into the surprised face of Jenny, her mouth agape with astonishment.

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 12

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 12

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE (Romans 8:28)

            Vermillion looked pensive as we watched the young couple leave the seminar. Lucy was on her Yamahopper moped and Jimmy on his muscle bike, a Yamaha Vmax. The contrast made me smile, but what brought me even more joy was the spiritual journey the young pair had undertaken.

            “The Lord can often turn even the worst situations into good,” I told Vermillion. “Beauty out of ashes.” (Isaiah 61:3)

            “We’ll see,” Vermillion replied. “I still believe in old faithful, the god of lust. Do you really think Jimmy is gonna be able to keep his pants on until he marries someone? It might even happen tonight. He’s pretty intrigued by Lucy’s short shorts.”

            “I beg to differ,” I countered. “After what your side did to her in Florida, she is too broken to give in to even a handsome charmer like Jimmy. Besides, Jimmy seems to be turning his charm over to truth.”

            “Well, my former friend, you should know how volatile and fickle the human condition is. Lucy may have been a virgin before those boys violated her, but she was already conceding her plan to remain pure until marriage. She had decided as long as she was in love, it would be okay. Even before love, she figured it would be okay to do ‘things’ for a guy she was getting close to.”

            “That may be true, but now her newfound interest in the Bible is overturning her worldly mindset.”

            “Sure it is,” he cackled. “Like I said, the human condition is fickle. As awful as the worst day of her life was, and although it resulted in a gallon of tears, time heals most wounds. Now that the brunt of the trauma has worn off, she will now figure that there is now no purity to hang on to. And who better to experience that with than a guy she has had a crush on for some time.”

            “On the contrary, she will realize that she is a new creation in Christ. Behold all things are new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

            Vermillion laughed maliciously. “They aren’t there yet, my former friend. Do you know what is in her purse, Querida?”

            “I do,” I admitted.

            “And you’re not gonna try to divert where they are headed?”

            “They need to get to know each other, Vermillion. And they have free will. You can’t have love without it. But with it comes risk.”

            “What about Jenny?” Vermillion asked with a smirk. I didn’t reply and he added, “Gotta love a love triangle, Querida. Even better, a quadrangle.”

            We watched as Jimmy followed Lucy on their two very different two wheelers. It was two and a half miles from the high school auditorium to Jimmy’s mobile home park. Jimmy frowned with puzzlement, as Lucy guided her moped into the left turn lane to enter the park. He pulled alongside of her. “Where are you going?”

            “Home, where do you think?”

            “I live here.”

            “I know. Or did you forget the incident with you and Lexi?”

            “Of course not. How could I forget getting a call from Lucifer?”

            She scowled. “I’ve decided I don’t like being called that.”

            “Fair enough.”

            “I live in here, too. How do you think we called you so fast after we spied through your window?”

            “Lexi said you guys probably went to the gas station.”

            She rolled her eyes. “Lexi’s such a phony. She’s embarrassed to admit to a guy that she has a friend that lives in a trailer park, while at the same time trying to get it on with a guy who lives in a trailer park.”

            The signal turned to a green arrow and Lucy throttled her moped. Jimmy shot past her in a second, then hit his brakes. “Since you live in here too, why don’t you be neighborly and stop by for a beverage?”

            They pulled into his two stall driveway, parking behind his pickup truck and new old car.

            “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

            “I’m inviting you over for conversation. I might have a girlfriend, but I can still have a friend that is a girl, can’t I?”

            “That’s between you and her,” she shrugged. “So you’re not gonna try to seduce me like you did Lexi?”

            “She seduced me.”

            “What if I seduce you?” she asked with a teasing smile.

            “I guess I’ll have to resist.”

            “What if you find me irresistible?”

            Jimmy frowned but smiled. “Well, maybe this isn’t a good idea after all. It seems you’re the one that finds me irresistible.”

            “Don’t worry, I’m joking. I find you resistible.”

            They went inside. Lucy took off her sneakers, sat in a Lazy Boy recliner and stretched out her legs. Jimmy opened his fridge and looked inside. “There’s 7up, orange juice, milk, or water. What’ll you have?”

            “No beer?”

            “You’re not old enough.”

            “That hasn’t stopped me before.”

            “Sorry, I don’t have any,” Jimmy replied. The previous weekend was the first time as an adult that he hadn’t had an adult beverage. Now, the last few days were the first time he had no beer in his refrigerator since he had lived on his own.

            “I’ll just have water,” Lucy said. “I didn’t really want a beer; I was just testing you.”

            “I don’t need any tests from you; life already gives me enough.”

            They talked about the seminars, both of them excited about the Bible truths they were learning. Then they delved into their religious histories.

            “I have none,” Jimmy said. “We didn’t even do the twice a year Christmas and Easter thing like some of my friends did. My parents ran a concrete construction company, and I had an uncle who owned a bar. His tavern was their sanctuary come the end of the work week. So I never really thought about God as a kid.”

            “So you were like an atheist by default?” Lucy asked.

            “I guess,” he shrugged. “I believed in the super natural, but to me, it was all a big mystery. I thought all religion was a joke. From money grubbing televangelists to people bowing to the Pope and kissing his ring, to the fire and brimstone theology my sister embraced a few years ago. I guess it was her conversion that first got me considering the God question. Only I didn’t like the answers until I started going to these meetings at the high school. Especially the one debunking eternal torment.”

            “Yeah, that was huge for me, too,” Lucy said. “I grew up with religion. I even went to a Christian school through the ninth grade. I was always torn over hell. I couldn’t reconcile what I read about Jesus in the gospels with your ‘gonna burn forever if you don’t believe.’”

            Jimmy studied Lucy for a long second. “How did you end up in a clique of snooty snobs?”

            Lucy almost spit up a swallow of water as she laughed. “Tell me what you really think of my friends.”

            “I just did.”

            She shrugged. “I guess that makes me a snob, too.”

            “No, not really, you don’t seem to fit with them.”

            “Funny you should notice that. I never did feel like I fit with them.”

            “So how then?”

            “A few reasons. Amy and I have been friends since the first grade. She and I went to that same Christian school.”

            “Yet she doesn’t seem to be a believer,” Jimmy interjected. “That one and only meeting she came to didn’t seem to resonate with her.”

            Lucy shrugged. “To each her own.”

            “What else?”

            “I’m the wild one of our group. Like it was my idea to spy on you and Lex. I behaved outrageously to feel like I fit in. I guess you could say I was a show off, and it worked. I’ve even been known to, ya know, flash guys.”

            “Flash?” Jimmy frowned. “What do you mean?”

            “Gimme a break. Jimmy Stetson doesn’t know what a flash is?” She mimicked lifting her shirt. She felt a wave of anxiety over the memory of last time she did that four months ago in Florida.

            “Okay, I get it,” Jimmy said. “It’s just that you don’t seem the type.”

            “Why is that?” she asked with a coy smile. “Because my chest doesn’t try to burst out of my tops like Lexi’s?”

            “No, I suppose because I’ve only seen you at Bible meetings. Plus you’re not as flashy as the others. No pun intended with what you just told me.”

            “You mean I’m the ugly duckling of the bunch?” she asked with wide eyes. Lucy knew full well she was cute.

            “On the contrary, I think you’re the most beautiful.”

            “Careful, you have a girlfriend,” Lucy said with a sultry smile.

            “Do I?” Jimmy asked as a genuine question.

            “Ho, ho, ho,” Vermillion chortled. “You see, my former friend, in this world lust rules. It is an unstoppable force.”

            “Not when love can conquer all when embraced,” I countered as Vermillion’s countenance fell. Not because of my words, but what was arriving in front of Jimmy’s trailer that was about to shift the mood between the couple. He was hoping their banter would lead to the bedroom. But he would settle for four rowdy guys unsettling her.

            It was Friday. When Jimmy’s roommate’s  work week ended at five that afternoon, he and three coworkers headed to the bar. After a half a dozen rounds, they were feeling no pain. Nor were they feeling much restraint. Their voices were loud and their laughter boisterous as they burst through the door of the trailer for an evening of poker.

            Jimmy considered the rowdy young men harmless. As a matter of fact, only a couple weeks ago, he likely would have joined their party. So he was a little surprised to see the frightened look on Lucy’s face. Especially after she had admitted to being the wild one of her clique.

            “Sorry, man,” Jimmy’s roommate said. “I didn’t know you had a hot date tonight.”

            “No big deal,” Jimmy replied.

            “Hot’s an understatement,” one of his roommate’s friends declared with an alcohol fueled declaration. “You can join our little party, honey.”

            “Is that her moped?” another one asked. “You gonna give her a lesson she can’t learn at school, Stetson?”

            Now Jimmy noticed Lucy begin to tremble. He felt the urge to start throwing punches but went with the instinct to get Lucy away immediately. He took hold of her hand. She had a flash back of an aggressive hand taking hold of hers in Florida with her fingers feeling like they were breaking. She jerked her hand from Jimmy’s and almost shrieked, ‘Let go of me.’

            But before the words came out, she looked into Jimmy’s eyes. She saw concern and compassion. Although she was breathing hard, his presence made her feel safe. Thank God she didn’t cry out! But she did whisper, “I need to go.”

            “I’ll walk out with you,” he said.

            As he began to follow Lucy out of the door, his roommate put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, man. Not only for interrupting, but the guys and their big mouths. You know how they are when they have been drinking.”

            “Yeah,” Jimmy replied mildly. Then he humbly regretted his own potential to be disrespectful while in his cups.

            Lucy made a beeline toward her moped. Jimmy stepped quickly after her. “Lucy, I’m really sorry about that.”

            She felt embarrassed by her terrified reaction to the crude guys. She forced a smile. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve heard guys be even worse than that before, it’s no big deal. It’s just…”

            She didn’t finish so he asked, “It’s just what?”

            “Never mind,” she replied with a forced laugh, but began to tremble again.

            Jimmy took hold of her hand and she let him. She felt so drawn to him, but at the same time felt like she might have a panic attack. “Talk to me, Lucy.”

            She shook her head, then looked into his eyes. “Have you ever been forceful with a girl?”

            “No, never,” he said immediately.

            “Have you ever talked crude like they just did?”

            “Maybe when I was drunk, but it was a mutual banter between me and the woman. I don’t recall anyone ever getting upset.”

            She took a few deep breaths and began to calm. She hugged herself, and Jimmy instinctively tried to pull her in for a friendly hug. She recoiled saying, “Don’t touch me.”

            “Sorry,” he said mildly, putting up his hands.

            “No, please do,” she said and walked into him.

            He wrapped his arms around her and could still feel slight tremors emanating from her body. She started to cry but clung to him tighter. He just quietly held her.

            After a couple minutes, she eased away from him. “I feel I need to tell you something. But only if you can promise not to tell another soul.”

            “Okay.”

            She suddenly turned a little playful, even though her eyes were red rimmed. “Cross your heart and hope to die?” she said as she made an X over her chest.

            He did likewise with an X and said with a small smile, “Stick a needle in my eye.”

            “Four months ago Amy and I went to Florida for spring break with her older sister,” she began, and then stepped into an embrace with him again. “I can’t look at you when I say this… My mom and Amy’s parents thought we went on a camping trip…”

            She paused a long time, so he said, “I did spring break in Florida once.”

            She began to whimper. Then Jimmy went rigid after she said, “The night before we came home, four guys raped me.”