Reluctant Demon Read Online Free Page A

became governed by time. But the Godhead—the three of Them—were neither in time nor subject to time. And neither were we.
    Time was to move forward, never backward, and at a steady pace with no sudden surges. It was then when He decided to put life on Earth. It was not going to be like anything They had done before. I don't know that we ever saw the three of Them as excited about any project as They were about this one.
    We angels were not that interested in a new life form—especially if it were on one of the planets, even if it was the pretty one. That is until we found out the new life form would definitely be inferior to us and that He intended to set us as guardians over it.
    Considering how things turned out, if He could do it over again, I'm pretty sure He would have made a different decision. It's His own fault that He couldn't have a do-over. If He hadn't made that law about the passing of time and that everything in time must pass with it, He could have reversed things and no one would have known the difference. But I digress.
    Up until that day, we in the angelic realm never considered the notion that we could rule over anything.
    But once we did think about it, it made perfect sense.
    After all, we had beauty, strength, gifting, personality, intelligence, and free will. W h y shouldn't we rule something—in the proper order, of course? The three made the decisions about the affairs of Earth, and we would carry them out. At first, we never thought to do it any other way
    And why would we? Our place in the universe was exalted, inferior to no other created thing, and our purpose was to do His bidding. In all of creation we were created the closest to the hearts of Yahweh and Adonai. The third member of their being, Ruah Ha Kadosh, did not actually interact with us. In fact, most times we were not really sure when He was around. He was not visible in the same ways the Father and the Son were visible. I suppose that sounds strange, but I don't mind telling you He was strange—mysterious even. At least it appeared so to us. It was easier to see the evidence that He had indeed been somewhere than to identify precisely where that somewhere might be. In other words, we could better point out where He was than explain where He is. But when anything important happened, He was always there.
    Knowing humanity as I do, I'm certain that it's impossible for you to imagine what life was like for us before that tragic day. One of the design errors in human makeup is that history is completely wasted on you. You humans amaze us with your unquestioned belief that nothing grander than yourselves ever existed or that anything important ever happened before you came along. You really have no idea how it was.
    It was much more majestic than you have imagined eternity and paradise to be. In fact, humans have such an impoverished view of what heaven is like that it amazes me that so many of you hope to go there when you die.
    If paradise were no more than you seem to think it is—cloud sitting, strumming harps, and singing hymns—I can't imagine why anyone would hope to spend eternity there. W h y does that idea hold so much appeal for you, then, when nothing of the sort appeals to you now? It must be that you desire paradise only as an alternative to hell, but you are not really eager for it. Oh, but if you knew what it was really like, well, you would long for it as I most painfully do now. Neither your language nor mine is sufficient to describe heaven, so I shall not try. It is unspeakable. It is marvelous. I desperately long for the way it was when I was there with Them. But it is quite lost to me.
    I wish I could explain what transpired in our hearts that dreadful day. I don't know how or why we began to change, but I do know when. From the first day we were set as celestial guardians over Earth, we were never the same. Lucifer pointed out to us that we had never before been allowed to realize our full potential, but now we