fall. I still had some conception of Heaven and the angels around me, but I was, like Jesus, slipping between worlds. The angels who had restrained me released me and were backing away. I suppose that they didn’t want to be too close to me when I fell—perhaps out of a fear that I would drag them along. And, if it had been possible, I probably would have.
“When I was shunted from Heaven, I hit bottom hard. I told you that the Fall feels like it takes forever. I could sense all things happening on Earth, Heaven, and Hell. I drew all of my energy together to prepare for the collision. I didn’t intend to spend the rest of eternity in a prison, so I did what so many others had done. I can assure you, it’s not as easy as I describe it. I almost didn’t have the force of will to hold it together, and I was so weak that, when I did hit, I lay there, paralyzed, for a day and a half.
“I landed just outside of Jerusalem, interestingly enough. Angels can force the direction of their fall to some degree with enough will power. Eventually, I came to understand and utilize my new body, but there was something inside of me that I had only gotten a taste of in Heaven. I wanted to nail all of the high priests to crosses. I wanted to burn Rome to the ground, but I settled on going after Judas first.
“He’d been hiding from Jesus’s following, fearful that they would kill him for martyring their lord. He would have been right, except that they, too, were hiding. No one, though, could hide from me. I had to be careful because, at that time, there was still a rule about physically hurting humans. I couldn’t do it without incurring the wrath of God—unless, of course, I had a divine mandate, and under the circumstances, that looked doubtful. But that didn’t keep me from tormenting Judas’s dreams or haunting his waking moments. One night, weeks after Jesus’s death, I persuaded Judas to hang himself in view of Jerusalem’s walls.
“The other thing I did upon getting to Earth was look in on Jesus’s body. For the first time, I felt completely human emotions, and I wept over the corpse. I knew there was nothing inside, but that irrational sorrow took over. I took the body away, vowing, one day, to lay it in Eden.
“I returned to get the remainder of Jesus’s things when two women walked into his tomb. At first, they had thought to call the guards. However, when I burst into flames, they fell, prostrated, to the ground. Funny how a little bit of supernatural display can do that. I told them to run along, that Jesus was no longer there. They took the message back to the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead. I laughed all the way back to where I had hidden his body. My laughing stopped when I found that his body was no longer there.
“Enraged and thinking that someone had stolen the body of my student, I stalked around Jerusalem trying to catch a scent or something. I found nothing. Nor were there footprints around where I had left the carcass, which is strange because there are always footprints in a land composed of desert—even if men can’t find them, demons have very acute senses. I never found the body. After I had my fun with Judas and the high priests, I left Jerusalem. I didn’t return for a long time.”
Alex breathed deeply. “That’s an amazing story.”
Jeremiah smiled. “Yes, well, let’s hope that I never have to tell a similar story where you are the protagonist.”
Alex fell silent as he contemplated the implications of what Jeremiah had said.
Jeremiah sighed. “You humans lose faith so easily when God doesn’t respond immediately. Imagine what it must feel like to be expected to perform His will but never know the reasons for it. This was my insanity. I couldn’t understand why God would allow His son and my student to die so horribly. The Bible tells
“When I was shunted from Heaven, I hit bottom hard. I told you that the Fall feels like it takes forever. I could sense all things happening on Earth, Heaven, and Hell. I drew all of my energy together to prepare for the collision. I didn’t intend to spend the rest of eternity in a prison, so I did what so many others had done. I can assure you, it’s not as easy as I describe it. I almost didn’t have the force of will to hold it together, and I was so weak that, when I did hit, I lay there, paralyzed, for a day and a half.
“I landed just outside of Jerusalem, interestingly enough. Angels can force the direction of their fall to some degree with enough will power. Eventually, I came to understand and utilize my new body, but there was something inside of me that I had only gotten a taste of in Heaven. I wanted to nail all of the high priests to crosses. I wanted to burn Rome to the ground, but I settled on going after Judas first.
“He’d been hiding from Jesus’s following, fearful that they would kill him for martyring their lord. He would have been right, except that they, too, were hiding. No one, though, could hide from me. I had to be careful because, at that time, there was still a rule about physically hurting humans. I couldn’t do it without incurring the wrath of God—unless, of course, I had a divine mandate, and under the circumstances, that looked doubtful. But that didn’t keep me from tormenting Judas’s dreams or haunting his waking moments. One night, weeks after Jesus’s death, I persuaded Judas to hang himself in view of Jerusalem’s walls.
“The other thing I did upon getting to Earth was look in on Jesus’s body. For the first time, I felt completely human emotions, and I wept over the corpse. I knew there was nothing inside, but that irrational sorrow took over. I took the body away, vowing, one day, to lay it in Eden.
“I returned to get the remainder of Jesus’s things when two women walked into his tomb. At first, they had thought to call the guards. However, when I burst into flames, they fell, prostrated, to the ground. Funny how a little bit of supernatural display can do that. I told them to run along, that Jesus was no longer there. They took the message back to the disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead. I laughed all the way back to where I had hidden his body. My laughing stopped when I found that his body was no longer there.
“Enraged and thinking that someone had stolen the body of my student, I stalked around Jerusalem trying to catch a scent or something. I found nothing. Nor were there footprints around where I had left the carcass, which is strange because there are always footprints in a land composed of desert—even if men can’t find them, demons have very acute senses. I never found the body. After I had my fun with Judas and the high priests, I left Jerusalem. I didn’t return for a long time.”
Alex breathed deeply. “That’s an amazing story.”
Jeremiah smiled. “Yes, well, let’s hope that I never have to tell a similar story where you are the protagonist.”
Alex fell silent as he contemplated the implications of what Jeremiah had said.
Jeremiah sighed. “You humans lose faith so easily when God doesn’t respond immediately. Imagine what it must feel like to be expected to perform His will but never know the reasons for it. This was my insanity. I couldn’t understand why God would allow His son and my student to die so horribly. The Bible tells
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