The Hand of God (23 page)

I must have looked confused when he said that, since he felt the need to explain.

“Okay, Bible scholar.  Lucifer is Latin.  It means, I am the Light Bearer.”

Chapter 41

Lucifer went on to give details of the Bishop’s next service at the Alamodome on Sunday night.  I had almost lost track of what day it was.  It was Saturday, so I had very little time, but if the world was going to end, then the sooner the better.  Lucifer figured with the things the Bishop had done so far, that he would be up to something big on Sunday.  I didn’t doubt him. He’d been right about everything else so far.

First thing I had to do was get another car, now that my Tahoe had been torn apart by the fire and brimstone. I took a cab to a local car dealership and bought an older Ford Explorer with what was left of my savings.  It was nothing to brag about, but it would get me around.  Worst case scenario, it just had to get me through Sunday. 

I drove to the church only to find no one had been there in days.  There was a sign on the door that said will be meeting at the Alamodome for the Bishop’s services until further notice.  I suppose that’s what happens when the senior pastor stops showing up for a while.  Little did they know they’d be seeing Christ himself speaking.  They also didn’t know that none of this religion business was what it seemed.  I guess that made sense, to be honest.  Churches and ministries, when you look into the gears that run them, are never what they appear to be on the outside.  Only makes sense that the same would go for the beings we worship.  It definitely wasn’t what we learned in Sunday school.

Once in my office, I looked through my desk, where I found a cross I used to hang on my wall, but the nail had come out of the dry wall.  Too bad the Bishop wasn’t a vampire; the cross might do me some good.  I considered taking it with me to waive it in the Bishop’s face just for effect, but thought better of it.

Lucifer seemed confident in me, but I was still trying to figure out how to kill God (for us Protestant folks, Jesus is one-third of the Trinity, so is in some part God himself).  Then again, I’d be killing a fleshly incarnation of God, not actual God, which made me wonder if this would upset the other two thirds of the trinity.  If he was in the flesh as a man, he should be able to die like anyone else.  If not, things would get rather messy Sunday night.

I headed out into the Explorer and back to the city.  There were plenty of signs remaining of the fire and brimstone from the other night.  News trucks were all over town from the major cable networks.  I’m sure the big televangelists had plenty to say about it.  Joel Osteen’s church was just a few hours away in Houston.  No telling what his take would be, other than that God didn’t touch Houston because it is blessed.  I’ve been to Houston, and of all the words I’d use to describe it, blessed wouldn’t be one of them.

I drove by the Alamodome, surprised to see it took on very little damage.  Perhaps the Bishop protected it from his wrath so he’d have a venue.  Oddly enough, he had yet to speak publicly about the fire storm.  No doubt he was saving it for the Sunday night service, to draw as big a crowd as possible.  Guess I shouldn’t pretend to know the mind of God, unless Lucifer thinks my hand on the head trick will work on him.  I’d find out soon enough.

The Alamodome was located in downtown San Antonio, not too far from the Riverwalk.  I was hungry so I headed down that way.  The Riverwalk had tons of shops and restaurants.  There were some great Tex-Mex places if you liked that kind of food.  I preferred authentic Mexican food, but Tex-Mex was the best you’d do on the Riverwalk.  Most tourists didn’t know the difference, but Tex-Mex was more dressed up more than and not as spicy as the authentic food.  I found a place that wasn’t too crowded and sat down.  Before the waitress brought me my drink, Lucifer walked in, sliding into the booth across from me.

“Hi, Charlie,” he said.

“I’m not buying you lunch.”

“Yeah, I’m not too hungry these days.”  He said, though he fumbled with the menu.  “I figured we could coordinate some kind of plan.”

“I guess.  Isn’t He all knowing, like if we have a plan or something?”

He laughed as he shook his head.

“You Bible scholars crack me up.  He’s not as all knowing as you might think.  At least not in the way you think.”

“What about the Father and the Trinity and all that?”

“It’s there, yet not how you think.  They all three exist, but do not communicate or function in the way as has been interpreted.   It’s hard to explain to a human.”

“I thought I wasn’t human.”

“Touché.”   He flipped through the menu, pretending he was looking at something.  “But you’re close enough to being human to not get it.  Fact is, we’re just different beings, or even different species, I guess.  They are too, just on a whole different plane.  They can take human form, as in actually occupy a body.  I could too, but I’d have to possess someone to do it.  But when they are incarnated as a human, they are just as vulnerable.”

“Wow.” I said. 

“Yeah, I know.  You probably felt the same way when you learned there was no Santa Claus. “

“I never believed in Santa.  So where do you go when you poof away?”  You hang out in hell and torture lost souls or something?”

“Hell, that’s another good one.  No, I roam the earth regularly.  I don’t have a home.  I don’t eat or sleep either, so it’s not really an issue.  Hell is the abyss like I told you about earlier.  God made it just for creatures like me and you and humans who he’s about to wipe out.  It’s just an eternal void of nothingness.  Imagine being in a state of consciousness for eternity, but with no sound, no one to talk to, nothing but darkness.  Can’t even hear your own voice, just nothing.”

“Yeah, that does sound pretty horrible.”

“Well, if the Bishop and his buddies have their way that is where you and I and most of humanity are headed.”

“That sounds very unpleasant.  What about the good people?”

“Once all is said and done, the Father will absorb all of them into himself.  All mortals came from him, and into him they will return.  They will spend eternity feeling the bliss of being one with him.”

“Wow, that’s quite interesting.”

“Like I said, hard for a human to wrap their brain around it.”

“So you’d rather risk the abyss than be one with the Father?”

“I don’t see why there can’t be some kind of in between.  Why all the extremes?  Just because you have power doesn’t mean you have to use it constantly.  You’re talking all this rather calmly.”

“Well, freaking out at this point won’t help anything.”

“True.  Enough of Sunday school.  Let’s figure out how to take care of this mess.  Once he’s dead, he can come back, but I know from last time, human death takes a lot out of him.  So it will be awhile.”

“Okay, that’s sort of comforting.”

Lucifer began to explain what some of his own abilities were and how I could use mine.  We went over the layout of the venue and security.  Oddly enough, the more he talked the better I felt.  Maybe we weren’t all doomed after all.

Chapter 42

Sunday night show time came around at the Alamodome.  The service didn’t start until seven, but there was a line outside by noon.  Some folks looked like they may have camped out overnight.  People were having cookouts in the parking lot, actually tailgating for a church service.  If only these folks knew what they were about to witness.  I wasn’t sure if I knew exactly.  The mere idea of it sounded like something you’d read from Greek mythology, or even the Old Testament.  Perhaps the two were more closely related than we thought.

I stood outside waiting with the rest of the crowd.  There were families waiting together, some were in wheelchairs.  There were private ambulances lined up outside as well.  They were most likely transporting seriously ill people straight into the stadium.  The Bishop was going to go all out on this night.  The end of the world was here, and we all had a front row seat.  

The doors opened at five and people started filing in.  I couldn’t help but feel like I was seeing all these lambs being led to the slaughter.  When I finally found my seat, I realized I spoke too soon on the front row seat statement.  Despite getting there hours early, my seat was in the upper levels of the back row.  Any further back and I’d have been on the roof.  At least I could watch the world end on the Jumbo-tron.  No way could I have reached the Bishop from that spot, but if Lucifer came through, our plan might still work.  Lucifer was sure my gift was more versatile than I’d seen so far; it looked like we would be finding out very soon.

At exactly seven, the lights went down and everyone began to cheer.  It was pitch black for several minutes, then spotlights shined all over the crowd, as if they were scanning the audience.  On the JumboTron, a video began to play.  It showed the Bishop conducting baptisms in a river.  The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah was playing, and then there was a loud explosion.  The stage was filled with smoke, but you could see the Bishop rising from the center of the stage with his arms extended as if he was Moses parting the Red Sea. Oddly enough, the effect reminded me of a concert where a rock star got shot up onto the stage from underneath.

He jumped off the platform and waved his arms as the crowd went wild. 

“Good evening San Antonio!” He shouted.  “Are you ready to worship the Lord?”

People screamed as if they were losing their minds.  A woman next to me was waving her arms and had already started crying.

“Great!  I have no doubt that the Lord God Almighty will do something amazing tonight!  Are you ready?”

As he spoke, his worship band began to play.  I couldn’t even make out what they were playing; it was so loud and distorted.  Not that it mattered; people were jumping up and down, clapping and singing.  Some were falling over as if they were having seizures while others began chanting in tongues.  I thought it was awful early in the service to start all that, but I guess they’d been gearing up all day for it.  Lucifer told me I would know is queue and when to do my thing.   I just hoped my “thing” would work. 

From there it was usual church fare: overblown prayers, more songs, a few healings, songs, him preaching about how great he and God were, and then more songs.  Then I saw him.  I don’t know how he made it past security, nor did I want to know.  But Lucifer was standing on the edge of the stage.

“Children of God,” the Bishop had been preaching.  “God has a great plan for you!  He—“the Bishop paused.  “Well, can I help you sir?” The Bishop said when he saw Lucifer.  He looked around probably trying to figure out where his security was.  I couldn’t help but notice Lucifer had cleaned up well.  He was wearing a dark suit and tie, but still had the beard and his hair combed back.  I wondered what he looked like when not appearing human.

“You know who I am, Bishop.”

“That I do, but these fine people do not.”

“Why don’t you tell them who you are first, and why you’re here?”

“What?  And spoil the surprise?  Don’t be ridiculous.  You always have been a sore loser.”

I could hear murmuring in the crowd as I noticed the temperature in the building had dropped significantly.  I don’t think people were sure if this was part of the show or not.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The Bishop began.  “We a have a special guest today.  The Prince of Darkness himself has decided to join us!  Please welcome Lucifer in the flesh!”

There was a collective gasp as people in the crowd were looking at each other.  Lucifer walked closer to the Bishop.

“My friends,” The Bishop said.  “Please watch as I cast the devil out of our presence!”

“You got my name wrong, and you forgot my title.”

“Oh?  And which one is that?  You have so many.”