End of the World (again) 1

End of the World (for real, this time) Part 1 of 3

The Creator was – once again -- terribly displeased with His human creations. The greed, selfishness, hatred, cruelty, deceit, gluttony and violence, among other things, were abominations to him. He had given them every form of guidance and opportunity -- flaming bushes and tablets distinctly describing His rules, seven deadly (cardinal) sins to avoid, guardian angels, and even the counsel and sacrifice of His only begotten son, who performed miracles for all to see. The Creator's son had been quietly moody, though ever forgiving, since the incident.

The Creator had even displayed His wrath in past efforts to get the attention of His most precious ones when the world devolved into disobedience. He brought about the Great Flood. Still, His creations continued to use the gift of free will, generously given to them, in unwise, even abusive manners. It was now time for the Creator to take action and make some very difficult decisions.

The Creator decided to warn humans one last time that the end times would be implemented as described by the Mayans unless massive changes in human behavior were embraced and adhered to.

He contacted His human reverends, preachers, priests, rabbis and all of His holy human messengers of all religions, telling them in powerful dreams to warn humans that the End Time was upon them. He contacted the street preachers, instructing them to use their megaphones and milk-crate stages to ceaselessly pass along the message, "The End Time is near -- for real, this time. God himself commands that you repent now or suffer eternal damnation in the cradle of the beast!"

Most people paid no attention at all to the warnings. Everyone was in a hurry -- rushing here and there on the streets, absorbed in using cell phones and i-Things, tablets and laptops. Young people pushed the street preachers off of their jerry-rigged platforms and milk crates, then kicked them as they lay on the ground. The young ones laughed, pointed and shoved each other, enjoying the hilarity of what they considered to be fine entertainment. People went to church and spent more time texting than listening to any sermon, having attended just to be able to say they went there and they believed that made them good people.

It seemed hopeless. The Creator knew that there were a lot of very good people out there who had simply become distracted and pressured by the frenetic pace of daily life. But the designated trial period was about to end for the humans and decisions had to be made. The consequences would be high for them and an implementation task force needed to be selected for planning and execution. The Creator wanted to hear the opinions and ideas of His archangels before making His Pronouncements.

First, the Creator called His Son to him, proposing that The Son should head a committee. The Son wanted no part of it.

"Father," he said, "I know that you possess the ultimate in all wisdom, but I would rather not. My opinion may be biased, based on my previous experiences. I listen to their prayers, sort them and present them to you. Is that not enough?"

The Creator could see the sadness in His son's soul and said, "I will not force you to do more, then. I will only have you choose the DoomsDay committee members with the stipulation that Lucifer be involved, as his realm will also be affected."

"Lucifer? Beelzebub? Oh, no!" said The Son. "No, not Beezel! Remember last time? He insisted on the unnecessary suffering, drowning misery and messiness of that flood and it took so many years to clean that up.

"Just do as I wish and bring him from Below for the meeting," said the Creator.

"As you wish, Father," the Son said reluctantly.

The Son gathered the archangels. He explained the task they had been assigned and informed them that Lucifer was required to take part in the meeting. Groans and mutterings of protest from the archangels began and Michael said, "We will not meet in the physical presence of the evil one. His stench of evil and decadent mischief poisons the air when he is near. Also, at our last meeting, he tasted the blessed mead from his chalice, then spit it out in my face and dumped the rest in my lap while his tongue sizzled and smoked."

"It was an accident due to oversight," said the Son.

"It was not," said Michael. "He knew what would happen and he purposely planned it. He is the disruptor of all that is organized and good; he conjures anarchy and despair with his every thought and movement."

The Son thought about it, then he had an idea. He said, "We can just bring him in on video conference. How about that?" Though they basically avoided using modern technology, everyone agreed that although they would rather not have to see or hear the evil one, video conference was a comparatively acceptable alternative.

The archangels were chosen and Lucifer was summoned.

"Damn," said Lucifer. "Another meeting with those pompous, elitist twits. Didn't we just meet about this same topic last millennium? Guess I'd better attend. I don't want that Son coming down here with his brightly shining halo and bringing his 'Glory Hallelujah' choir posse to cause disruption. That could be embarrassing.

Double damn."

"Lilith," he called. "Go to the office and bring me my laptop."

"What makes you think you can give me orders," said his sister. Her eyes turned to burning flames as she turned on him.

"Okay, please -- if you don't mind," he replied politely with a strained smile. The last thing he needed now was a power struggle with Lilith. Though he usually won, it was agonizingly painful to tangle with her. His eyebrows had still not grown back after the last confrontation.

She left and returned with the equipment and he signaled the Son that he was ready to begin. The fate of humanity was about to be decided.