by Donovan Neal
And the Lord spoke from the throne, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Yeah even the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Lucifer doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful son, a lineage now laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupter's: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Heaven unto anger, they are gone away backward. Behold their fruit's destruction."
Then the Lord called forth the Shaunteal, eleven angels of power who appeared instantly before the Lord of all things and bowed and the Lord spoke. "Go in my name, as shackle and chain. Bind my sons with bonds, and the nobles with fetters of iron, ye are the keys to Tartarus. Seize those who have defiled the man, and seal those responsible within the bowels of the earth. Let the fear of me be in thee, so that the Fallen never again commit abomination. Now go."
The angels in charge over the capture were eleven strong. And those recorded in the Grigoric record were Uriel, Harbonah, Azrael, Simkiel, Za'afiel, Af, Kolazonta, Hermah, Kemuel, Makatiel, and Mavet. Armed with shackle they became living keys to open Tartarus and seal all that they chose within. They fell as a plague upon Semjaza and those who had lain with the daughters of men. And wherever they were on the Earth, each angel of judgment descended upon the perpetrators of abomination and dragged them screaming through the crust of the earth into Tartarus.
Lucifer conferred with his lieutenants, and his council debated on the strategy to bring El down from Heaven that they might strike at him. And the council were raucous as it was wondered how such a thing might be and how El outside of Sabbath could be brought low, and Lucifer after much debate spoke to them all.
"Do not think that we can shield ourselves from El. Nay I tell you El is all knowing, he is everywhere. Even in this very room. To battle against El head on is fruitless. No, we must use a proxy to strike at El and the man will serve as a shield for our defense. For El moves Heaven and Earth for his love of the creature. Man will be our key to bring him low. Now that we have mingled our blood with his, El must deal with the man as he hast dealt with us. He cannot lie, as he must be true to who He is. The man belongs to me. El's image belongs to me. He will attempt to redeem the man, this I guarantee you. We must bear this world still for many days until it is time to ascend and take back our home. Do not be deceived El will not stand idle whilst I hold his beloved hostage. But we must be careful in the thing. For the moment El..."
While Lucifer was yet speaking, an attendant came into the doorway and shouted to all within. "El has come and breaks the world!"
Immediately all rushed outside to see, that angels stood on the winds and rode the backs of cumulus clouds as steads, and wherever the Prime evils looked, rain fell upon the ground. Angels fell from the sky and crashed into the earth, and when they did so great geysers of water ejected into the air, and all about Lucifer and the fallen, the earth erupted in water from below and poured rain upon the earth from above, and lightning and thunder crashed in their ears.
Suddenly a great light appeared above them and Mavet one of the Shaunteal appeared within the light carrying great chains, and spoke, "Semjaza you hath been found guilty of abomination and hath defiled the order of the Lord. You are hereby sentenced to the confinement of Tartarus."
Semjaza rushed through the assembled council members and attempted to flee, but Mavet cast forth his hand and black tendrils reached from the angel of judgment to ensnare Semjaza. Lucifer's henchmen attempted to escape them but the tendrils found him, and held him fast, binding him. Mavet then descended and enveloped him and draped over him as a shroud, and Semjaza could be seen pushing against the blackness of Mavet to escape. His muffled screams could be heard as he struggled to break free. Lucifer's lieutenants looked on in fear while others attempted to interfere and stop Mavet but when they reached to touch him, they grabbed ether. Black smoke and embers of fire ushered from his presence, and Mavet looked upon Lucifer, and he, him.
Lucifer smiled, "And what of I? Will not the Godking touch the 'Author of Abomination'? Or is he too coward to do the deed himself?"
Mavet glided towards Lucifer and hovered in front of him. A towering black column of ash and cinder emanated from his presence. The crisp smell of burning flesh wafted through the air, and when he opened his mouth to speak and the screams of Semjaza were heard behind his words.
"You Satan wear Death about your neck, and Hell as your locket. The Almighty hath decreed that your time is not yet nigh. But know of a surety...that El will come for you."
Lucifer cocked his head, and stood his ground before the angel and replied in defiance. "Let him come."
Mavet then pulled a scythe from his robes and slammed the hilt of it on the ground. Blackness then encircled from its base and a circle expanded beneath Mavet as a pool of oil and spread underfoot to all who looked. Each in attendance rose into the air to escape its touch; all except Lucifer who stood atop the blackness. Mavet slowly sunk into the darkness before them and opened his mouth one last time, and when he did the petrified screams of Semjaza echoed in all their ears.
Lucifer glared and his eyes narrowed as he seethed at the loss of Semjaza, "Let El come."
Slowly the blackness receded into nothing and Mavet disappeared from their sight.
Impotent to stop El, Lucifer, and his council watched as the waters of the flood overran all that lived and watched as the life of their offspring was washed away. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
Lucifer marked Noah and his sons, and his Grigori watched as they disembarked and gave report. For though El had destroyed the Nephilim from the face of the earth; the plague of sin still coursed through Noah's veins. And Lucifer plotted to move against Noah and his offspring to sin, and to keep El at bay, and he schemed that he might destroy El by mankind's hand, but knew that it would be many days before he could challenge El.
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And it came to pass that in the sum of time men replenished the Earth, and man was want to scatter himself and found the exchange of ideas hastened his creativity and inventiveness, and Lucifer moved men to be one people that he might teach them knowledge from on high. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, "Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
And the thing that man did was made known to the Lord and the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, "Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
And Enoch was displeased for the thing caused his people to go backward in knowledge and slowed the pace with which they might overtake the earth and subdue it.
And the Lord knew Enoch's thoughts and said, "Not so my son, for let it be shown the path that the people tread upon that this thing must be." And the Lord call
ed Argoth and said, "You have been given sight to see a partiality of that which is within the Godhead's mind. Show therefore thy brethren what thou hast seen."
Argoth then moved and pulled from his chest the golden book that was his Kilnstone, and tossed the tome into the air. It rose and when it touched the ceiling, opened, and all the pages dispersed abroad and plastered themselves unto the beams, walls, and floors of the throne room. And all the Lumazi stood transfixed as each page showed them glimpses into the mind of God. For Lucifer had raised up nations of men who held not the image of the Creator in their knowledge and moved them to perverseness. The fallen had made governors of all manner of men from every nation and tongue. And they erected statutes and great monuments to false gods of wood, stone and gold. Some worshiped the sun, and Ra was awash in the worship of men. Some angels had moved men to worship their lost ancestors while others perpetrated fraud to Adams kin not knowing that they interacted with demons and not their ancestors. Moreover, the people became vile in their imaginations, developed knowledge, and harnessed the power of El's creation to make war. The Lumazi stood watching with mouths agape for the fallen had infected man with the idea that there was no God. That El was a myth, and Lucifer reigned over the Earth and men were as dung to him.
El then looked upon Enoch and lovingly spoke to him, "This my sons shall be the fate of man if I do not intervene, and salvage my image and creation. For as my absence wrought war in Heaven, if I would turn my face from Adam, he would experience the totality of life absent from me, and would descend into ruin. This I will not allow.
"Even now the adversary moves to raise up all nations and peoples that he might be seen as God. For though man was created a little lower than the angels; he yet possesses the image of the Almighty and will overcome the bounds given him. Yeah in time he shall breach the bounds of light which separate the realms, and on that day—Lucifer will have means to enter Heaven once more."
Enoch stood in silence. Ruminating on the power of his people to affect the cause of heaven, and how angelic kind puppeteered man without God's intervention. Metatron looked at Enoch and touched his shoulder, lifted his head and looked upon the Lord. "We cannot allow mankind to sink into ruin."
Gabriel also chimed in, "My Lord you have allowed us to behold what man was capable of at the tower, and the need to disperse his language that for a time he might be divided. Nevertheless, such a pause in his advancement is but temporary. For Adamson is your image, and will overcome the limitation in time. If Lucifer could harness men's power of the knowledge of good and evil..."
God continued his sentence, "Lucifer would use man to find a passage across the realms, to breach death, and life. Yea to enter the Third Heaven, and again incite war. But with now both angel and man as soldier, and on that day, he would move me to destroy the man I have created. To destroy by my own hand he whom my soul loveth."
They all stood stupefied. The thought of war in Heaven again sent chills through the group. None had conceived that man who possessed God's image could become as Charon and be used as a weapon of war against them. It was a sobering thought.
Michael had watched the images. He searched the records of Argoth on the ceiling above and noted the absence of what El had shown him after the Descension. Information that he knew what El did not disclose. Information that he and for the moment only Argoth knew. That El was destined to die. That a member of the trinity would be given over to Adam's kin. Michael's face contorted with the thought that somehow in a future yet to come. Man would be given power to destroy the Creator. Michael looked upon Enoch and for a moment scowled. He shook himself from his rumination and spoke. "What is your will in this matter Lord?"
"I will fashion me a man by name of Abraham. For I know, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. And I shall take of him and make him a mighty nation, and through him shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed.
"For I have spoken with the man Terah, to leave Ur of the Chaldees. Yet his heart would not abide with me, but his son Abraham will be a father of many nations, and shall heed all my counsel and will move by faith to a land not seen, and there I will build me a people, who after many days will birth a light to all men. A second man, and the last Adam; all that the Adversary would be thwarted and my man will be saved."
Enoch looked up when the Lord spoke, "A second man?"
The Lord nodded but did not elaborate, and all knew that El had said all he would say, and Jerahmeel spoke, "The thing which thou sayest soundest good my Lord. How then would the Lumazi serve our King?"
“You will move to the far reaches of the earth and will give cause for Lucifer to be distracted from the people that I will make. You will do battle with him across the front of Asia, the southern lands of the western hemisphere, and will draw his attention, that he will not see the mustard seed that rears. For if so, he would surely plant tares to grow with the wheat I must plant. You will battle him across the span of man's time and the enemy will think that I am there when I am not. He will in his desire to spite me, be blind to the rising of a nation underneath his very eyes. He will make his seat in a place of power yet I will bring him low at the hand of slaves and bondservants. All that Adam would be saved, and my name be glorified in the Earth."
Jerahmeel bowed, "My Lord if we do this thing, Lucifer will destroy much of creation, and there will be many days before he can be brought low. Adam and his people will suffer. Suffer from thine perceived absence, suffer at the hands of the enemy, and moreover suffer to experience themselves without thee."
The Lord said nothing looking as if afar off. Tears began to well in his eyes, for none had seen the Almighty ever weep. For El looked across the span of time and knew that he held back the multitude of suffering that Adam and his kind would endure; knew that the plague of sin would contaminate all of creation, and that nothing would bring the plague into check unless he himself would come down from the throne and surrender his life. A sacrifice to buy back man from the hand of the enemy. The Lord wiped the tears from his eyes and looked upon his children before him, and when he did, all were bowed with heads hung low. All except Michael, who stared at him knowingly, whose thoughts the Lord knew.
I know my Lord. I do not profess to like your plan. Yet if thy death is thy will to save Adam. Then know that I am thine to command.
El smiled at his child and spoke to the mind of Michael. Thank you, my son.
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Michael went to approach Argoth in private and the two met in the Chamber of War. Argoth was busy looking over the placement of the forces of Lucifer and of Heaven's legions when he came in.
"Am I disturbing you Argoth?" Michael asked.
"I am busy seeing to the troop movements...we have lost the Typhon Expanse in the eastern quadrant, and Wormwood hast broken free."
Michael stood and ran to see the projection from the book that showed Wormwood moving through space. But the angel seemed wounded, and though he moved towards the Earth it would be many days traveling the second heaven before he would be a threat.
"In El's name! How has such a thing come to be? Wormwood was sealed within a tomb of ice hidden within dark matter, he could not be found."
Argoth continued working and did not look up to face Michael. He simply opened more books and viewed the layout of the universe that showed how Lucifer's forces sought to free some of their trapped brethren.
Michael also looked at the position of the galaxies and systems that were displayed before them, and everywhere he looked, the armies of Heaven were in a battle with Lucifer's forces. And the ebb and flow of the conflict saw many of the host lost and some of Lucifer's forces bolstered.
"Michael saw that Argoth had positioned a legion but left their flank exposed while Lucifer's forces moved to combat them.
"Argoth you need to send reinforcements to the western edge of Lynax star system.
Argoth continued to work
, pouring over maps and books and darting his eyes back and forth between the images above him and the topography of the universe displayed on the table.
"Argoth!" Michael reached to grab his arm, and Argoth pulled from Michael's grasp, misted, then turned to speak.
"How dare you lay hands on me. Who do you think you are? It was not I who asked to lead the armies of Heaven. Nor I who battles conflict. I do what I must because thou art absent from the body, and leave Heaven handicapped. All because of your selfish musings. Do you think that El hast a plan B for you? Nay. El never has a plan B. He only has one plan. And it is for you to lead. Instead of observing the actions of all things, I now must function in two roles. I am humbled in my role, and content to abide therein. Yet, you run from the destiny that El has for you. So leave me Kortai. For you are a stumbling block to me. You seek to advise me? Let advice be mine to thee.
"Either lead thy people, follow the path thou hast chosen, or remove thyself from my way! Which is it? For unless you are here to give command as Chief Prince, I have charge of the armies, and you will obey the order of the Lord, and leave the War chamber now! Or have you too fallen in league with thy brother that I must fight my peer in my own land?"
Michael was struck by the words of Argoth and was about to give retort, and Argoth lifted his hand to stop him. "No Michael, do not speak to me. When you are no longer of double mind and stable in who you serve then come and give council, but until then find me a soul who has faith and works. For faith without works is dead being alone, and your faith is small. Now go, and leave me to do the work of Heaven that you have willingly abandoned." Argoth then turned away from Michael and returned to studying the maps laid before him.
