Gabriel's Story - Part 4

“But I still don’t understand.” Gabriel had been talking with Pastor Sean about the supernatural for hours. Sean tried to impress upon him the very real nature of spiritual activity among man, but Gabriel was having a hard time separating what Sean termed as the ethereal from the corporeal. To him, it all sounded like a bad movie script. “Isn’t the Bible clear? Absent from the body is present with God or something like that?”

“Believe it or not, Gabriel, that’s a hard question to answer.” Sean sipped his coffee – decaf due to the late hour. “It all depends on your belief in the afterlife and whether or not you can accept that sometimes, despite our intelligence, theological or academic studies, or even the best religious or spiritual teaching, we don’t always get it right.”

Sean stood and walked to the front window. He stared past his reflection in the glass and out into darkness. It was well past midnight and the conversation wasn’t showing any signs of ending. Gabriel was full of energy and questions and Sean couldn’t leave him in a state of confusion. No. The stakes were too high. After a few seconds of silence, Sean had an idea. It was time to shift tactics.

“Let me ask you a question. Don’t think about the answer. Just tell me your first reaction.”

“Ok.”

“It’s after midnight, so technically today is Halloween.”

“Is that your question?”

Sean smiled and turned from the window to face Gabriel. “No. My question is; do you believe evil spirits walk the earth?”

Gabriel paused, remembering Sean’s instructions not to think, just to respond. “I think I do.”

“You think, or you do? Yes or no?” Sean was insistent, and slightly rude, in Gabriel’s opinion.

“Yes,” without further thought, Gabriel was certain. He believed evil in various forms was free to roam the earth, “I do believe.”

“Then why don’t you believe good spirits wander the earth as well?”

Gabriel couldn’t just answer that question without first thinking about it, despite Sean’s instructions. Somehow it made sense. If evil spirits had the freedom to wander the earth, then it would make sense, both logically and spiritually, that good spirits were also present. Gabriel asked the voice inside whether or not good spirits also walked freely and for the first time in a week he wasn’t surprised when it answered. Also for the first time, he wasn’t afraid. Having heard the response, and taking a first step in trusting the voice, he gave Sean his reply.

“I gue..” remembering Sean’s earlier chastisement, Gabriel felt he should be more confident. “…I mean, yes, it makes sense that both good and evil spirits walk the earth.”

Sean smiled. “Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.” He sat down and looked at Gabriel with an expression that could only be described as curious. “That’s step one. Now for step two. Can these spirits, whether good or bad, affect our lives?”

Gabriel didn’t ask the voice, he expected it to answer. Without realizing it, and possibly due to the late hour, Gabriel had accepted the voice as a part of his conscience and this conversation was helping him learn to trust it. The voice didn’t disappoint. “Yes, they can affect us in both good and bad ways.”

Sean pushed farther. “How?”

Now Gabriel had a decision to make. He could either treat the voice like a resource that he could tap into whenever he needed to. That seemed limiting and possibly disrespectful to the voice. Or he could believe what the voice was telling him, accept it as part of his subconscious, and become one with it. He made the decision quickly. Gabriel stepped out of his own way and let the voice use become his voice.

“Good spirits work with us, teach us and guide us to do what is right. They have an investment in us because they are sent from a loving Father. They feel the same pain and disappointment we feel whenever we make the wrong choice. Likewise they are bolstered, reinvigorated, even strengthened when we choose rightly.”

“And bad spirits?” Sean inched closer to the edge of his seat in rapt attention, eyes locked on Gabriel’s.

“Bad spirits have the opposite effect and use different tricks based on the person. Some people are open and bad spirits work in and through them just like good spirits do. Others are protected, but that doesn’t mean bad spirits can’t impact them. They just do it from the outside, through other people.” Gabriel was amazed. The voice spoke with authority, but it didn’t scare him like it did the first time he heard it. That fear was nowhere to be found.

Sean waited quietly, looking deep into Gabriel’s eyes almost expectantly. He appeared to Gabriel to be searching for more, trying to see through to his soul. In the silence, Gabriel could hear the wind picking up outside. The lights in the house flickered. A pole down the street snapped and in an instant they were in complete darkness.

***---***

Abaddon shrieked in anger taking control of his host. The guttural, inhuman cry emanating from her husband’s throat shook Sara to her core. She had heard that noise before, but not since the Catholic priest had performed the exorcism. That was two years ago to the day, and Sara had begun to think Gary was in the clear. She closed her eyes and prayed, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”

Gary looked at his wife, but his face contorted physically in a manner that Sara couldn’t recognize. His cheeks hollowed and his eyes darkened. The more Sara prayed to the Holy Mother, the angrier Abaddon became. It was bad enough a new believer had snuck into his neighborhood without warning, but to be subjected to the weak, powerless banter of his host’s wife poured salt into the wound. The demon summoned his battalion and the wind kicked up in response. At Abaddon’s command, Gary hit the gas and aimed the Ford truck for the nearest power pole. The truck was traveling forty miles per hour when it jumped the curb and slammed into the pole, snapping it and severing the power lines overhead. The force of the impact split the Ford in half, ejecting Sara onto the wet ground. Abaddon tore himself free from his host and launched toward Sara, taking hold of the live power line and jamming it into the wet ground beside Sara.

Electricity sparked and Abaddon flew backward unexpectedly, slamming uncomfortably into the side of the mangled Ford pickup. From a ball of evil lumped beside the truck, Abaddon could see Sara lying unblemished on the ground while the sparks jumped all around her. The physical pain and rejection Abaddon felt couldn’t have come from the power line – he was immune. The dark angel of desolation stood, eyes closed, and gathered power from the fear darkness caused throughout the neighborhood as he readied for another attack. When he opened his eyes he was paralyzed with fear at the holy light emanating from the massive angel who stood protecting Sara. His holy sword jammed into the earth at the exact point Abaddon had plunged the power line.

The angel released Abaddon’s ability to speak, but held his authority over his power to move. “Speak!”

“Mighty Gabriel, why are you bothering me? This neighborhood belongs to me. That woman is not one of yours. Why have you come on this All Hallows Eve?”

In less than a blink of an eye the Angel Gabriel withdrew his sword, closed the distance with the dark messenger and gripped his putrid neck with a righteous hand capable of crushing the senior Satanic leader’s throat with minimal effort.

“Please…don’t…kill me!” Abaddon shrieked in fear. He could feel his battalion gathering around in anticipation of the beating the angel was bound to levy against their leader.

The Angel released Abaddon. “I bring a message for you. The man Gabriel and his preacher Sean are off limits at your own peril.”