It's Just the Beginning
It was just another average day up in Heaven when it all began. I was teaching the little children their daily Bible lesson as normal when Mark, an angel, intruded upon our lesson screaming,
"God! God! Lucifer has done it again!" It wasn't the first time that Lucifer was the cause of an abrupt ending to our daily lesson. At first it was simple things, such as locking another angel out of their room or putting a bug on their shoulder, but it has grown into harsher and more cunning deeds lately. As I rushed to the scene of the devious act, I knew the time was getting closer; the climax of his true unfaithfulness was drawing near. Just the thought grieved me. Mark finally stopped and pointed at the mess Lucifer had created: Lucifer had set fire to the garden and persuaded a multitude of angels to join him in the horrific act! As I calmly walked over to the scheming rebels, a few angels spotted me and fled to avoid punishment, but Lucifer and a majority of the devious angels stayed right where they were standing.
"Lucifer," I said calmly, "what caused you to commit such treacherous acts?"
"Why are you asking me? You should already know since you are all-knowing, shouldn't you?" Lucifer questioned sarcastically. "What are you going to do about it my king, ruler of all?"
"Why don't you come follow me, my son; you can join me in the council meeting I must attend in a few minutes," I replied compassionately. There was a hushed murmur amongst the crowd of angels surrounding Lucifer and the torched garden. Lucifer arrogantly walked out of the garden over to where I was standing and confidently said,
"No, I will not go, and you cannot make me." The bold statement silenced the observing angels.
"Alright, my child, if that is what you want. Well I have a meeting to take part in so I must go now." As I began to walk away, I heard Lucifer exclaiming his victory over me. I knew it would only be a matter of time until his full rebellion began. His insubordinate deeds were attracting the attention of a great multitude of angels. My children were starting to wander from me because of Lucifer's defying acts. I want what is best for the majority of my beloved children but I feel saddened by the decisions I must make to keep Heaven a holy place. As I strolled into the weekly Heaven Council meeting, I could see there was a great strife in the hearts of the five angels seated in the room.
"Alright, let us get this meeting under way," I stated as I took a seat at the large, round table.
"God, you have to do something about him, he's starting to get out of control," started Beelzebub.
"Do not worry, my child, I have it covered. I am not worried; it will all be okay in the end."
"What is your plan because Lucifer's disobedient works are raising questions about your authority and power," questioned Luke.
"Here are what I view as my options," I responded, "either I can destroy him completely, punish him so harshly that he will repent, let him continue his path of unrighteousness until he tries to overtake me and then I unleash my full power unto him, or I can banish him to another place."
"I think you should wipe him out of existence so that we would never have to deal with him again," replied Matthew.
"Yet, he is my child, my creation that is so dear and beautiful to me. I would not want to destroy my creation."
"I am in favor of banishing him then. That way he is still alive, just out of Heaven so he does not cause havoc any longer," remarked Michael.
"Except, if he was placed elsewhere, then he would terrorize the beings in that place," pointed out Beelzebub.
"That is true, unless he was banished to a place with no other beings to which he could induce torture," said John.
"Again, I do not want to extinguish my beloved's existence," I replied. "Each option has its advantages as well as disadvantages, and I think we should take as much time as we need to properly address this monstrous problem." Beelzebub was quick to respond with his opinion,
"I'm sorry, God, but I disagree. I feel that we should address this issue promptly before Lucifer commits any other horrific activities."
"I propose that we meet again tomorrow and discuss this topic again after we all have some time to ponder upon the issue at hand," proposed Michael.
"I think that would be a splendid idea," I began. "We can meet at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon and continue…" There was a loud, sudden crash in the room next to us. The door to our meeting hall was violently thrown open and Lucifer strutted in exclaiming,
"I'm here, God. This is what you wanted isn't it, for me to come before your Heaven Council, to hear what you have to say to me? Well, guess what, I am here except I added a slight twist. I am here for you to tell me what you think about this treacherous act I am about to commit. I know what you have in mind as punishment because Beelzebub is my spy. I am smarter than you think and I am more intelligent than you will ever be, God. I am not here to hear about how I need to change or clean up my act; I am here to hear about your plan to get yourself out of this war I am about to create." As he compiled this heap of insults against me, I heard a multitude of angels parading through the doors of the meeting hall. Beelzebub joined Lucifer at once and whispered something into Lucifer's ear. After listening to Beelzebub, Lucifer laughed aloud and stated,
"Oh you, mistaken soul! God does not possess more power and strength than I! Stand back, Beelzebub, let me and my army through!" The time had come. The horrific time had come! I must show my true omnipotence and the universe will be changed forever! I stood up and calmly waited for Lucifer to approach me. He marched up to me and said,
"We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. Either you will bow down to me and I will give you Heaven back, or I will destroy everything good completely."
I smiled and said, "You are mistaken, my son. You cannot give Heaven back to me if you do not have it to begin with." My collectiveness and calmness extremely irritated Lucifer.
He exclaimed, "That is what I expected you to say, so the hard way it is!" He motioned for his angel soldiers to restrain me. I knew what I must do but I was greatly saddened by the event that was to come.
"I am truly sorry, my child, I am very sorry," I muttered. As I said this, a great trembling shook the heavens. Lucifer and his fellow angels fell to the ground and covered their heads in fear. A massive crack broke through the surface of the ground and it split the meeting hall into two sections. Out of the great split came smoke and fire without light. Lucifer and his angels screamed from fright as they were heaved toward the unimaginable pit. They clawed at the ground, struggling to catch a grip of anything that would prevent them from getting swallowed up in the unfathomable ditch. Their faces were stricken with horror as they were overtaken by the darkness.
"I am truly sorry," I muttered sadly as the last angels were sucked into the pit. I turned my head away from the place where the crack in the ground had been, as it concealed its depths. The magnificent quaking stopped and there was no sign that Lucifer and his followers had ever existed. I faced the council and their faces showed great emotions.
"Wow," stuttered John in shock.
"Well it looks like we won't have to deal with Lucifer any longer," stated Luke.
"On the contrary, my child, it's just the beginning."