After a moment’s silence, Bennett asked, “Do we have any idea what he wants?”
“I certainly don’t,” answered McWilliams.
“Neither do I,” said Reese. “I guess that would be the appropriate direction to take at my next meeting with Elohim.”
Bennett asked, “Then, can we get back to it?”
“I suppose we should.”
“Reese, before you go back in, I have a question.” It was Reynolds again. Reese noticed a concerned look on his face. “We’ve made quite a jump from trying to prove that he was an imposter to granting the possibility that he is some sort of spiritual being.”
McWilliams asked Reynolds, “Do you blame us?”
“No, not at all. From what I’ve seen and heard, it’s a pretty reasonable assumption. My question is this: since we are willing to pursue the realm of the spiritual, has anyone considered that this man is from…ahhh…the other side of the coin?”
It was apparent from the silence following the question that no one had considered this possibility. Claire was the first to speak. “Do you mean the devil, the Antichrist?”
“I suppose I do. Isn’t it the belief of most religions that there is one? I mean, if there can be a God, then why not the devil? And, if he is the devil, how do we figure that out?”
Reese considered this latest avenue. Logically, it made perfect sense. “Nicholas, I see your point. There are several teachings that foretell the arrival of Lucifer at the End of Days. According to some scholars, he is to arrive in a manner that deceives us, causing us to follow him.”
Bennett chuckled. “This is rich. We were just trying to figure out if he is God. Now, maybe he’s the devil? How do we sort that out?”
“I don’t know,” said Reese. “This is all so new. I’m not sure that a mortal can make the distinction. I’m certainly willing to give it a shot, but I’ll be the first to cry ‘uncle’ if I’m feeling over my head.”
“Very well,” said Bennett thoughtfully. “Let’s get to it.”
Everyone started to rise, when Claire gently put her hand on Reese’s arm. “Honey, could we have a few minutes alone?”
“Of course.” Looking up, Reese said, “If my wife and I could have this room for a few moments? Oh, and Craig, is this room being recorded?”
“Yes, it is. I’ll take care of it.” Walking to the phone by the wall, McWilliams punched in a three-digit number and spoke softly into the mouthpiece. A moment later white noise filled the room. He hung up and turned back to Johnson. “It’s off. The white noise continues until the microphones are turned back on.”
Not sure whether to believe him, Reese turned to Claire questioningly. She nodded, still clutching his arm.
“Thank you. We won’t be long.”
Everyone filed out, and Reese turned to his wife. “What is it, honey?”
“Don’t you know?”
“I’m afraid I’m a bit overwhelmed; I’m not sure.”
“His last comment, as you left the room.”
“About his error?”
“Yes. Do you know what he meant?”
“I’m sorry, Claire. I haven’t had the time to focus on it yet. What was his error?”
Slightly frustrated, she sighed. “Reese, it’s not like you to miss something like this. When he talked about our children, he said that you and I contributed….”
“All of the genes that made them who they were,” said Reese, remembering, realization sinking in.
“If he knows everything that has happened, then either he’s wrong or….”
Taking a moment to consider the possibilities, Reese said, “That must be what he was talking about at the end. That means that if I’m wrong and he’s right….”
Claire just nodded, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
Reese jumped up and bolted to the door, looking into the hallway. Not fifteen feet away, leaning against the wall were Reynolds and McWilliams, waiting for Reese. “Could you both come back in a moment?” Reese did not wait for a response. Returning to the table, he clasped both of Claire’s hands. Reynolds was the first through the doorway.
“Nicholas, I have a favor to ask. I’d like a DNA sample taken from me. I’d also like a sample taken from my children back in Tucson. I’d like you to have your lab do a paternity test.”
Reynolds and McWilliams had the good grace not to ask any questions. Reynolds used the wall phone, asking McWilliams for the extension number, and in a few minutes a lab tech arrived with a glass vial containing a sterile swab. Snapping it open, she swabbed Reese’s cheek thoroughly, placed it carefully back in the vial, and retreated. Reynolds called his field office in Tucson and dispatched an agent, accompanied by a technician, to swab the children. He and McWilliams then followed the tech out, closing the door.
Claire called their son and daughter on their cell phones, letting them each know the agent was coming and explaining that it was just a test for a virus. While she talked to them, Reese’s eyes were drawn to the empty wheelchair. Evidence of its many years of use was clearly visible. The cushion on the seat was well worn, the paint rubbed off the control lever. The side facing Reese was covered with bumper stickers, large and small, including one that read “If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you’re reading it in English, thank a Marine.” Reese was struck by the pathos of the chair sitting empty and no longer needed. Having a lifelong tendency to anthropomorphize inanimate objects, Reese could not help but feel sorry for this once vital and now discarded part of Craig McWilliams’ life.
Finishing her second call, Claire broke the connection and stared thoughtfully at the tabletop. Reese reached over and took both of her hands in his. She finally asked, “How long will it take?”
“I’m not sure. I think a couple of days.”
“Reese, will it matter if they are yours?”
He thought for a while. “I don’t see how. I couldn’t love them any more than I already do.”
“I know that. I’m not sure what I mean.”
They sat in silence until Reese said, “I should be going back in.”
“I know.” She slid her hands out from under his and immediately placed them on top, grabbing his hands firmly and saying nothing. Reese stared at her face. It was framed by thick, brown hair that she had secretly begun to dye to cover the first of her gray. Her deep brown eyes looked worried, troubled, anxious, and somehow happy, all at the same time.
They continued to sit without speaking, listening to the hiss of the white noise, her grip on his hands not loosening, not wanting to let him go quite yet. “You know, I’ve seen so much of you in both of them…since they were born. I’ve denied it, thinking it was just wishful thinking, but I’ve still seen it in their eyes, the shape of Matthew’s jaw, Melissa’s ears, her big toes. My God, Reese, I’ve never seen big toes like that on anyone but you.”
He laughed. “They are lovely, aren’t they?”
“Lovely, no. Beautiful, yes, because they’re yours.”
“I love you, Claire.”
“I love you, too.”
“If this is all true, why do you look so unhappy?”
“It’s change. You know how I am about that. We’ve been a happy, loving family, and this could somehow change things.”
Leaning forward and kissing her lightly on the cheek, Reese said, “My love for you will never change, nor will my love for Matthew and Melissa. It will only get stronger.”
Twisting around in her chair, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him against her. As he held her tightly, he could feel her quaking with gentle sobs. They embraced until the sobs subsided. Slowly, she unwrapped her arms from his neck and straightened. “Reese, I don’t know who this guy is…but you’d better get your butt in there and find out. And I mean find out for sure. We…everyone is counting on you.”
“No pressure, huh?”
“Nope. None. Now go!”
“You coming?”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Reese returned to the hallway, joining up with Reynolds and McWilliams. “Where’s Bennett?”
McWilliams answered, “He went to his office. He said he’d be back shortly.”
Taking a deep breath, Reese said, “All right. Let’s get back in there.”
א
“Elohim,” Reese started. “You’ve given us a lot to think about.”
Without the least hint of irony, Elohim answered, “That is my way.”
“You have been quite persuasive in convincing all of us that you are a supernatural being. There is some concern that you may not be as benign as you appear.”
“Perhaps I am not.”
That was definitely not the answer that Reese expected.
“It has even been suggested that you could be….”
“Satan?”
“Yes.”
“That, my dear Reese, is a different subject than your first question. Please allow me to reply to both. Like the Creator described in scripture, I have the capacity to be both benign and vengeful, as is needed. It is I who created the butterfly, and it is also I who destroyed entire civilizations.”
“The Old Testament God?”
“For lack of a better description, yes.”
“So you are not the God of the Christians?”
“I am the Father.”
“As in ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’?”
“An unfortunate misquote. What Jesus actually said was ‘Forgive me, Father, for they do not yet know what they do.’”
Understanding came instantly to Reese. “You sent him here?”
“I did. That is known well.”
“But it is believed that Christ was sent to die for our sins, to allow us access into Heaven.”
“Again, unfortunate misunderstandings. Jesus was sent to be the light for all to follow. Prior to His arrival, mankind was inexorably moving toward a dismal destination. Had He not come to Earth, another cataclysm was inevitable.”
“A great flood?”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps another comet. It had not yet been decided. My Son asked to be allowed to intervene, to attempt to change the course of humanity. The request was unprecedented, yet I could see no harm. At the end, He felt that His visit here was truncated…that His goals had not been reached. He underestimated the influence of His words.”
Reese’s mind whirled, flitting from statement to statement that had been attributed to Christ. “So when Christ said to the Jews, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM’….”
“He meant it quite literally.”
“It appears that His mission was a success.”
“As are so many things in the universe, it was less of a success than was hoped and less of a failure than was feared. His time spent on Earth was well spent. Not only did He change the course for much of mankind, He also planted the seed that prepared all of you for this day.”
Reese started to speak but was stopped by Elohim raising his hand slightly. “We could continue to satisfy your curiosity for many hours regarding my Son. None of that would bring us any closer to the conclusion of the task at hand. I ask that we may continue. To answer your second question, I am not Lucifer.”
“That’s it. You simply say it, and I am to believe?”
“No, it is not that simple. Perhaps I underestimated your depth of knowledge. I assumed that when I spoke my name, that fact would suffice to allay your fears.”
In a flash, Reese recalled that in the teachings of the Christians, Jews, and others, it was stated that the evil one could not speak the name Elohim. He might, to deceive, call himself Jehovah, Yahweh, even God, but never Elohim. Taken aback for a moment, Reese then continued, “You have made the lame walk. You have caused a manuscript that I had destroyed to appear, fully bound, and have caused a table to materialize and de-materialize. It would be child’s play for you to plant that historical fact.”
“Beware, Reese, that skepticism leads to suspicion, which will take you directly to cynicism and paranoia.”
“I am sufficiently well trained in psychology to know those boundaries. It is not my intent to be insulting or rude. However, I have been asked to authenticate, at least to my own satisfaction, that you are who and what you say. I have no choice but to take that responsibility quite seriously.”
“Of course, you do. I was merely pointing out that once you grant the possession of certain powers to me, it becomes impossible to think of a method for authentication which does not include the possibility of that method being manipulated, corrupted, or even constructed by me.”
“That is, of course, quite true. Please indulge me, then, in a discussion about the one we refer to as Satan. Perhaps there will be something in what you say that will give me some comfort.”
“Of course. As it is written, Lucifer was once what you refer to as an angel, an angel of the highest tier. He did fall from grace, in a manner of speaking, and was banished from Heaven.”
“To hell?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. His hell is on Earth. He lives among you. The only acts that he may perform in the material world are through you. He does not live what you would consider to be a temporal existence. He is deprived of all sensory input and can only see, smell, hear, taste, and feel through someone who allows him to enter.”
“Possession?”
“In a sense. Lucifer occupies many. He lives through them all. He guides, cajoles, directs, rewards, motivates, coerces, and commands all under his influence, according to their weaknesses, to achieve his goal.”
“Which is?”
“To prevent me from achieving mine.”
“And what is yours?”
“To bring you to Heaven.”
“Why would he oppose that? If he doesn’t have a kingdom of hell to fill with souls, why would he care if we went to Heaven?”
“That is a complex question to answer. As scripture describes, Lucifer hopes to return to the realm of Heaven at some point, either as a conqueror or as one who has been forgiven. In the interim, his kingdom is here. The more who embrace him, the more intense sensations he feels. He is the ultimate hedonist, addicted to the ultimate drug of the overwhelming sensory stream that he receives from his disciples. If all were to abandon him and cast him out, he would be in an eternal darkness.”
“Sensory deprivation.”
“Yes, except that he would be deprived of the senses of millions. Your own scientists have discovered that even minutes of the deprivation of only your own senses can drive you mad. Imagine what Lucifer would experience.”
“And this addiction is endangered by you?”
“Yes. Each soul I take to Heaven is one less available to him. He also despises me, providing further motivation for obstructing the perfection of my goals.”
Elohim stopped to give Reese an opportunity to absorb all of this. So much of what Elohim said related to all that Reese had learned in a lifetime of study of the world’s religions, and yet, it was different or perhaps more complete.
“Can Lucifer be redeemed?”
“Yes, he can. At a time of his own choosing he may be forgiven. But that will not happen until two things occur: first, he must realize the error of his original offense; second, he must willingly and voluntarily cease this parasitical behavior on mankind.”
“Kick the habit?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“You expect him to give up all of the input, to plunge himself into an absolute darkness, in the hope that you will grant him forgiveness?”
“Exactly.”
“Will he ever do that?”
“Reese, as I explained before, the future is not preordained. However, I do not believe that he ever will.”
“You mentioned his original offense. What was that?”
“It is complicated. Partially, he did not want humankind to be granted access into Heaven.”
“Pretty much what the Bible says!”
>
“Yes. He felt that your presence would befoul a wonderful place.”
“That’s why this is hell.”
“Indeed. Not only must he live among these beings whom he found to be so disgusting, but he must live within them and through them.”
“You are bad!”
Laughing, Elohim replied, “I believe I mentioned that earlier.”
The Harvest Page 8