Short Stories

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Do you
think
that
I
cannot
appeal
to
My Father,
and
He will
at once
send Me
more
than
twelve legions
of angels?'
[Matthew 26:53]
*************************
The Day of the Lord's
Blood Atonement
for the Sin of Mankind,
took place outside of Jerusalem,
on a hill called the Place of the
Skull, or Calvary. On that
day, thousands and thousands
were on their knees behind
the Romans' high, wooden Cross:
watching, and mourning,
and worshipping.

Thousands, and
thousands of angels.
_______________________________
(A small, frightened whisper.)
"I'm SCARED....
MICHAEL."

(Archangel Michael
heard the small voice,
and opened his eyes:
barely turning his head.
Standing beside him
was the little crippled angel,
Jo'ach: leaning on
his little wooden cane.
Michael whispered back,
in a stern rebuke.)
"What are you DOING
up here, JO'ACH? You're
supposed to be back THERE....
..in the CENTER of the Host!
It is too DANGEROUS,
up here, at the FRONT!
SATAN...and all
of his Greater-Demons
are HERE!"
(Michael pointed over his
huge, winged shoulder. He
shouted, in a rough whisper,
and very sternly.)
"GO BACK!
NOW!
THAT is an ORDER!"

(Little Jo'ach's face
crumpled; he began to
cry. He limped forward
a little, to get closer to
the warrior Archangel.)
"Can't I stay with YOU?
I'm SCARED. I don't
UNDERSTAND? What
is the Lord DOING....
in this HORRIBLE PLACE?"

(The huge Archangel
wiped his beautiful eyes,
and beckoned the little
angel to kneel on the ground,
beside him.)

(Jo'ach slowly lowered
himself to the rocky,
hard soil of Earth: setting
his little cane next to him.
He bowed his curly head
close to the Archangel's
shoulder, and whispered.)
"Why can't we go.....
and RESCUE HIM...
Michael?
RESCUE Him......!"

(Michael let out a
low moan. Fresh, hot
tears slid down the sides
of his magnificent face.)
"We CAN'T!
WE CAN'T,
little Jo'ach!
It is the Lord's COMMAND!"

"But.....WHY?"
(Jo'ach sobbed; his
little plump face was
hot and wet. Earthly
smells of dirt, and
sweat, and blood came
to his nostrils.)
"I don't UNDERSTAND?
The LORD should be on
His THRONE!
With us all AROUND HIM!
What is HE DOING....HERE?"

(Michael reached up,
and tenderly stroked
little Jo'ach's damp curls.
He whispered: as if talking
to a small child.)
"He is here to SAVE them,
Jo'ach."

"Save THEM?"
(Jo'ach's small brown
eyes stared, disbelievingly,
around at the group of
Earthly beings gathered at
the foot of the Cross:
some were carrying swords, and
looked very mean, and monsterous:
like blood-thirsty animals.
Not very far away, stood Satan;
he was leaning against a nearby rock
with his arms folded, and
a big toothy smile on his
exquisitely sculptured face.
Satan kept nodding to himself,
as if, very soon,
the entire universe would be his.)
"But......WHY?
Why?
WHY would our Lord
want to save THEM?"

(Michael was now face down on the
rough, pebble-strewn ground. He lifted
his halo'd head for just a moment: gazing
continutally up at his Lord, who was in
human form: hanging by nails on the Cross:
naked and bleeding. Michael whispered:
never taking his eyes off his Lord.)
"Because......Jo'ach,
these human creatures are HIS."

(Little Jo'ach, still kneeling in the
dirt, put a small arm around
the mighty Archangel's huge shoulder.
He leaned forward again, and whispered
back.)
"But.....I don't UNDERSTAND?
Are these creatures like the DEMONS?
And, SATAN?
Have they CHOSEN to WAR against
our LORD?"

(Michael nodded, making tight fists
and grinding them hard into the loose
pebbled soil; his powerful muscles were
all clenched so tightly that they were
forming large balls under his angel's
skin; it was taking all of Michael's
mighty strength not to take wing
and battle these miserable,
and pitiful creatures; only a handful
seemed to be in mourning: standing,
and watching, and weeping;
all the others had victorious looks on
their ugly faces, which, unbeknownst to them,
were exactly like the countenance of Satan.)
"I do not KNOW!
I WOULD LIKE TO BATTLE ALL OF THEM!
ALL OF THEM!
NOW!
THIS VERY MOMENT!"

(Little Jo'ach quickly turned his head;
his own halo was rather small, and limp.
His little weak knees slipped some, in
the loose, gray-brown dirt. He noticed
that no grass grew in this evil Place: it
was as if life had come to Evil's boundary,
and just stopped.)
"COULDN'T we, MICHAEL?
COULDN'T we?
We're all......HERE!
Let's GO!"

(Michael, for one moment, stopped gazing
up at his Lord. He turned a stern face
to the much smaller angel, and whispered
harshly, and ungently.)
"NO!
Do NOT SAY such a THING!
We are SERVANTS!
SERVANTS of the ALL MIGHTY!
We do not BREATHE......
...unless it is
His COMMAND!"

(Little Jo'ach simply nodded:
his lower lip trembling, and
his small brown eyes opened wide.
He hesitantly moved his
little hand away from the giant Archangel's
shoulder: nodding, and nodding, silently.
He began to sob, again.)

(Suddenly, a soft whisper could be
heard, overhead.)
"Archangel Michael?"

(Both angels looked up: it was
the Angel Gabriel. The Archangel,
wiped his eyes once more, and gazed
unseeingly for a long moment.
Then he sighed deeply, and answered
in a firm whisper.)
"What is it, Gabriel."

"I can take Little Jo'ach back
to his group.......he should not have
come up this far.....so close to the
battle front."

(Michael sighed. He shook his
head, and closed his eyes for a moment.
Then, he reached up and put a mighty,
gentle hand on the little angel's light-
brown curls: they were dusty, and unruly,
as usual.)
"No.....
no, Gabriel.
It is alright........I will take CARE of him.
It is alright.....go back to your place,
in the circle*. We will be alright.
Thank you, Gabriel."

(Gabriel simply nodded: glancing
one more time at Jo'ach, who was
keeping his small plump, wet face down
at the ground. Gabriel nodded, again.)
"Yes.
Well.......ALRIGHT.
But....I will be RIGHT over.....THERE..."

(Michael nodded, quietly.)
"I know."

(Gabriel reached down to touch the
top of Little Jo'ach's limp halo,
and then nodded. Then, he moved
quietly away.)

(All was silent.)

(The Archangel reached down
and covered both of the little
angel's tightly grasped hands,
with one of his own. The angel,
whose lips were still trembling,
sobbed, and cried.)
"When will END......
Michael?
When is it going to END?
It's......
It's been ....HOURS!"

(Michael pulled the little,
weak angel toward him: embracing
Jo'ach's small shuddering shoulders.)
"When the Lord commands,
Little Jo'ach.
When the Lord commands."
*****************************
When
Jesus
had received
the vinegar,
He said,
'It is
finished';
and
He bowed
His head
and
gave up
His
spirit.
[John 19:30]
________________________
*On that Day, the day
of the Lord's Blood Atonement
for the Sin of Mankind,
all the Host was gathered
upon the Earth; they were
arranged strategically: the
smaller, less-stronger angels
kneeling on the inside
of the circle,
and the larger, much mightier
angels on the outside.



Copyright 2011.

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