Lucifer's Last Stand Read online

CHAPTER TWO

  What pathetic creatures! I still can’t believe how easily they die. We killed nearly one hundred of them in Job’s fields that day. His servants screamed in the fire and choked on the swords, but crushing his children under their house took the prize. When Job found out, the look on his face was priceless.

  Yet we didn’t expect the outcome. In fact, it enraged Lucifer. All Job would say was “naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed is the name of the Lord!” He actually worshiped God after all of that! The numskull! Has he taken leave of his senses?

  I didn’t want to accompany Lucifer on the trip to heaven, but he insisted.

  “It didn’t turn out quite like you thought it would, did it?” asked God. “He was supposed to curse me to my face, remember?”

  Lucifer’s face contorted and turned color as God continued.

  “Have you considered that maybe my laws can be kept regardless of how fallen or weak the creature or how intense the trial?”

  “What do you know of it?” Lucifer spit out the words from behind closed teeth. “You sit on a throne of power in a beautiful place. You know nothing of evil, weakness, or trial!”

  God sighed and gazed at Lucifer through large eyes. His voice fell as he spoke.

  “Actions speak louder than words,” he said. “You moved me to destroy Job without cause, but he has not responded as you claimed he would.”

  “Skin for skin,” Lucifer spoke the words distinctly, obviously trying to contain his anger. “As long as it’s someone else’s pain, it’s all good. Yet touch his bone and flesh and guess what will happen?”

  “He will bless my name again?” God raised his eyebrows as he asked the question, and his lips hinted at a smile.

  Lucifer remained unamused. He retorted like a sore loser.

  “He will curse you to your face,” he said, “that’s what!”

  “Go for it then,” said God, and he was not smiling. “Do what you can, but you must not kill him.”

  Boils are not a pretty sight. Humans look even more wretched sick than dead. As Job sat there scraping his sores, we got his wife to speak our sentiment.

  “How much can a man take?” she asked. “Curse God and die!”

  “That is foolish talk,” Job answered. “God is good all the time, in the evil times as well as the good. So why shouldn’t I trust Him, even if He kills me?”

  I was there with Lucifer when God showed up to talk to Job. He had a few words for our sulking leader also.

  “You claim that you own the earth Lucifer,” he said, “but as long as men like Job live here, it isn’t true.”

  “You think you’re so smart!” said Lucifer, “But you haven’t won anything yet!”

  Lucifer stood defiant, glaring at God.

  “No matter what you say,” he continued, “men are weak. Since giving in to me, their very natures have become so feeble that it is impossible for them to resist me. Don’t kid yourself! Job sins, just like me. He may not have sinned this time, but you know good and well that he still does. The truth is that you are continuing to forgive him while you refuse to forgive me. Talk about a double standard! Do you really think that even though you have promised these repulsive creatures forgiveness, even though you stand between them and the consequences of their sin, that they will ever be able to live sinless lives?”

  Lucifer gagged on his disgust.

  “Not a chance!” he said, “Once a sinner, always a sinner. You can forgive them, but you can’t do anything about their sinning. They are as guilty as I am! If you insist on forgiving them, then you are going to have to forgive me too, so I can go back to heaven.”

  God stood shoulder to shoulder with Lucifer for a long moment before he spoke.

  “Forgiving grace, humbly accepted, always leads to enabling grace,” was all he said to Lucifer as he stepped past him to speak with Job.