...Hassatan swung his face to take the flames light - to look upon Jesus...
Jesus...you talk a lot Hassatan - does this mean you are in His favour then - that your Lord likes you - especially?...
Hassatan...likes me? - He loves me Jesus.... - He loves all his children remember...' - a wry grin and a wink given to Jesus - '...one certain reason is for my time going about here and there on this earth, where now I look much like Humans - He likes the look you see... my look - and of course the games we have played have certainly kept Him awake to his workings here...
Chapter 22: Creation of Hassatan Myth
...Hassatan had taken to looking deep into the flame - Jesus looked at him - the side of his face...
Jesus...but your name is with evil amongst Man Hassatan - you are not known to Man as good, but a bringer... the cause of the evils with Man and those things that cripple Man - yet you say to me He loves you as you are?...
Hassatan...come now Jesus - think a little historically please - can't you see that I am now the new thing - the new figure that everyone who proclaims Divine inspirations wants to toy with - parts from here, parts from there - the Jews wished they had nailed me in their scriptures long ago - and then it was not so long ago they saw the subduing fires in the minds of Men, what the older likes of Set or Mot and good old Hades produced - but those scribblers just didn't pin something similar down earlier - they thought they could do it, religion, with a one choice God through whom all things flowed, but where has that left them ? - with a damning God whose name they can't utter properly - and that has created more work for them justifying matters - because their one power God creates a little ambivalence don't you think, in all those made to fear and follow Him - but now, and couldn't you just feel the rumblings, the urge, the need for more celestial powers amongst that Israel people has surfaced - and how about that - then along you come walking, having your way with the little Demon ones, and proclaiming my name ! - why did you start nailing me as the new Mot Jesus, why? - where did you really get the idea I am to blame for the bad on this earth..really? - was it first a guessing game - did you draw from all the competing garbled voices on the various temple stairs you loitered around as a youngster, or do you say it was really apocalyptic of you - did you really sniff me out from within the shadows and veils behind evil Men's eyes? - come on Jesus, tell me the truth - am I really the child of chaos, with not a whiff of your Father anywhere otherwise?...
Jesus...you have heard me - clearly you have something to say on this matter and I sit to listen to this...
Hassatan...okay then Jesus - so what am I now meant to be to Man?... - anything Man chooses of course - the source my boy, the source of whatever Man seeks to claim now - pestilence, wickedness, their opponent, foreign rulers they despise... but of Man himself as his own worst enemy?... - no, not that of course... - I have become Man's imagination unbound - the now ever expanding Universe of bad - yet here I sit Jesus, just talking with you - and just so you can be sure - we Angels can't be in two places at the same time - well not properly anyway...
...Hassatan returned to looking over the night - looking to one star, then another...
Hassatan… there are two things in these realms that I cherish highly, and they both happen to be trees - one of Life, the other of Knowledge - of Good and Evil - and that one is particularly helpful - I mean, what purer source could there be for sorting and selecting through His creatures? - what better tool does He use for Divining the Divine than what I was tasked to protect - can you name one thing for better detecting the minute, the small defects, the secrets that could be bound deep within the apparently glorious souls of Man?... - nothing else but that which I am responsible for... the Knowledge of Good and Evil - and so have I been able to be that light that shines searching through the souls of Man, as Man does hold the oil lamp behind the egg - but better... - and this task I perform - Adversary - using the tools given to me by Him, this is what creates deep thoughts of resentment and malice towards me - why, I now am blamed for all manner of things I otherwise only get to see in Men's souls when they come seeking salvation before their God upon their deaths... - remarkable - people and Angels will always begrudge anyone who can hold a torch over their darkest secrets...
Jesus...yet you speak of the Heavenly whispers given to Man, of the Truths from on High, of the nature of things - so you say as you do and stand seeking to counter what Man now believes, yet the whispers you would also have me believe without question - so you see the problem for you Hassatan - are the whispers of Heaven false to Mankind?...
...Hassatan looked over the flame at Jesus - his eyes looked with weary thoughts at Jesus - he stopped his gaze and looked to the Heavens - to a star again...
Hassatan...you sound like those new crazies that appear on the fringes of the temples these days and nights - you just don't want to believe everything do you?... in getting to know that, the smaller parts begin to make sense... - Jesus, my name has become the recent answer for a Lord who wants... nay... must have himself reign Glorious above all else, and especially in the mind's eye and racing hearts of Man... - don't you want to see all that has been written of Him leading to this point?... - it’s not all wine and roses Jesus and you well know that - and you should at least start to admit to the fact of His deeds - instead, what do we now hear being touted about the temples and whispered into the ears of children ?... - a Lord who does no wrong - well perhaps not personally anymore - but what we also find is one who does nothing when wrong is done - go figure hey... Divine Justice and all that - where is it ? - strangely absent more often than not, wouldn't you agree Jesus - but the new distraction from that not small point is this - wrongs now earn my name - I am now to be uttered under the breath of Men when something bad occurs before the eyes of Man - Hassatan - a new Creator of soughts you see - uttered to be the cause and now Creator of wrongs caused by any mind of Man of malice or prejudice - somehow I have a place in the minds of all bad Men now - ...now, is that like God's being everywhere too? - certainly captivates the minds' of the fearful one way or another - so dear Jesus, from the whispers of Heaven in Man's ears, I am now defined as the new evil, everywhere - and before you, incarnate no less - this, our Lord, has passively let be in the free-will of Man - but I say it was allowed to be freely whispered into Men's ears and minds... - and for the time being Man appears very accommodating of these thoughts - this fictional dual - this good battling bad - they have come to understand and believe that their God has an adversary that He keeps them safe from - what rubbish - show me the last time He reached down to prevent one Man from bashing the brains in of another, and somehow revealing me as somehow manipulating the free-will of the wrong doer - how ridiculous, and as if I haven't better things to do, than carry on like some supreme Demon... - no Jesus, your Father is simply distancing Himself from past deeds, where my name is being invoked as somehow the cause of all that was and is wrong on this earth... - but so it goes with Him - His Word is the law, and who am I to turn his intentions over...
Jesus…but Hassatan, your hand is clearly to be seen playing it's part in the scriptures - you rattle off little respect for those, you have made that clear - but for so long now your part has been told in acts simply not good - and you react against this history, written badly it may have been, but your part is there...
Hassatan...and sensationally told under the styles of Men it has been... - Jesus, I am not God's killer... his run-about boy for all the dirty deeds - no, He has plenty of Destroyers for those tasks - I just pick through the debris of souls after they have finished... - otherwise, no, God runs most of those killing sprees through the usual lines of command - I have though, on occasions, been asked to take a closer look at what He has proposed - but beyond that, I simply don't care for watching it all - it becomes, well, tiring - particularly when He gets in the mood for a game - Job is a perfect case in point - I mean, He could have done all of that without me, but there are times He likes to have me in on his
games...'
Jesus...Hassatan, would you stop this fiction of God and His games please - that has become tiring too...
...Hassatan blinked at his stars with what appeared tired eyes as Jesus said this...
Hassatan...and won't you give me the grace of not interrupting me about matters you have only now time to learn of...' - ...silence....- then Hassatan resumed.... - '...but Job wasn't the first Jesus... nor do I expect will he be the last - ...those were challenges your Father brought to me for Job who was perhaps more pious than you - your Father bade me to test and tempt that creature to utter even a single word against his God - it was much simpler for you - my visit to the desert - do you see how your experience compares to that of Job ? - and ask yourself this you glib thing - was it my idea to tempt you or His ?... - it's not like no one knew I was down there with you - I mean gee, a whole flock of Angels were at the ready to lick your sunburn and blisters as soon as I left...
...Hassatan turned from his stars to Jesus for this - Jesus kept his gaze to the ground...
Hassatan...listen, it has all been about your strength son - He wanted to see, that's all - as for me? - as I said I've seen it before Jesus - it was nothing but an errand of fancy for Him, and I dutifully did his bidding, knowing yes, that He had as always assured the outcome - quite the waste of my immortal time really - but, it does keep Him robust, as the rules between us are that I may not do that which He has expressly forbid, leaving then all possibility to prevail on those matters not discussed - but in the desert I cared little to really tempt you - you were so bloody morose anyway - depressed?.... I don't know - no, my preference was to see you come to this, to be denied and rejected by your own people, and nailed and speared like some foul enemy of Humankind, so you could see how some fathers choose to treat their sons - and by His allowing it all to be so Jesus... what was it again you were heard to whisper on that stumpy cross?... was it not “my God, why have you forsaken me..”. - anyway, this was His plan for you, so don't get upset with me - no Jesus, my chief task here is much simpler than the intrigue you impute to me - like the ocean tests every boat that would gain it's freedom, so am I to every Man's Spiritual vessel - I can assure their passage to freedom, if their vessel isn't found wanting - so you see, the freedom Man seeks can also be his undoing if he comes with a vessel not ready - anyway remember, I did not create the Spirit, and nor did He for that matter, but Man's Soul is free to see my tests if it doesn't wish to look to God first, and they can try those tests in whatever vessel they choose - so be it - but be clear - gambling with me is not to actually gamble with me, but only one other - He, and He only is the other side of the wager with Men's souls - I simply have liberties for designing and refining the games your Father would play... - but don't get me wrong - I can't help but be seen as His dark side, seemingly separate, but seemingly all me...
...Jesus kept to looking quietly upon the face of Hassatan - just looking - and long into Hassatan... - his eyes then shifted from looking upon Hassatan's face, peering off into the distance it seemed - then I caught the path of his vision - he was looking just above the Hassatan's head...
Jesus...you have a halo...
...Hassatan turned...
Hassatan...no I do not - but some more clearly than others have a clearing like all do, and you do not have one very clear at the moment - so come with me again through mine …
...Hassatan, as he started to walk past Jesus, took his hand and lead him away to clear...
to clear
Chapter 23: Bharat
from clear
Hassatan...isn't Bharat beautiful...
...a warm wind was the first to greet Hassatan and Jesus as they cleared to a high hill - a blonde rock - smooth by eons of the breath here - overlooking a great earth river with much ceremony by a brown skinned people - flowers - many colours - chants loud and rising - bodies released to flow the river - flames - the sun high - a place green from wet heat...
Hassatan...they are good people --- like all religions they have mostly coloured the whispers they are given into the fashions and politics of their culture - and colourful they are - wonderful really...
...Hassatan sat on the rock he had cleared to, placing his arms on his knees - chest high, his fingers laced together...
Hassatan...this is their great river - in it they see birth, life and death - all at once - they revere it for what it represents - the flows of life in this place, and of the Universe generally - an unstopping continuous flow of Creation cycles - quite beautiful - quite tranquil for the eons they encapsulate, which the river encapsulates and affords to their higher thoughts - I like these people a lot … I have sat with them untroubled for millennias....
...Jesus folded down on his legs next to Hassatan and also took in the spectacle of the massive ceremony taking place before them...
Hassatan...people fight for the dead, nearly as much as those alive - but for the dead they prosecute, persecute, kill, torment and climb to ever the highest places to adorn stones and their thoughts for the greatness of the dead - Majesty and even relief they believe they bring to dead kin, family and those they revered when they were alive - in the mix of their adoration they take credits for themselves - a self adoration - for doing good - for themselves and those who may or may not be within the thresholds of Heaven - credits they feel sure assures them passage over their mind's measure of what that threshold may be - thing is - I am that threshold - and what much care do I have for the worshippings of Man of Man? - really - they are meant to have one true God after all - dead is dead - either with Him or not - little shrines won't change that fact - mine is to seek and better know them than the trumpets Man owns and bleats for himself and his departed dead... - but the Woman - they... well simpler than their less formed counterparts - the Woman comes to exist only after having been a Man first - they just don't stop to be a Man, but continue to grow further into a Woman, internally - they become more beautiful, but weakened versions of Man, and the weakness comes from the reproduction skill they acquire - a trade-off of sorts - they truly are more complex and exquisite creatures - and the Woman bares a great deal better the confusions, sorrows and pains of this place... and better their instincts serve them on keeping matters simple and pure - otherwise it has only been the strength issue that sets them apart - I must admit they always prove the hardest to keep away from the Tree's gate - they are just so good so often.... - there is always a shinier side to any coin... always beckons, yes?...
Jesus...but Man is the path Hassatan... the seed of generations... - the line that keeps Woman and generations secure too - you place Woman above Man though they live side by side with Men...
Hassatan...sure, that's a view if you want Jesus - and it does take two after all - regardless, female souls are meant to be filled with the best from the Treasury - a culturally sensitive task, and by no means completely random - and that is where the Angels responsible are meant to be clear with their task - unfortunately laziness and corruption exists in Heaven - a product of too many illicit partnerships in Heaven and between Heaven and earth - some families here owe much for the deficits Man encounters, and of that I know plenty... - but the heads of those families seek to be saved one day like most do, so if time permits I make certain to deal with their preposterous overtures of goodness if they manage to get themselves presented as a worthy cause for Judgment - in the grander stretch of time it matters most to get them just then - otherwise it's not my role to be setting examples about them on earth - that's for Him and those Princes who should be leading their nations in His Words - anyway you can see the effect - from their thoughts of about to be saved to just another Ghenna, wicked is quite the got you - and stuff them to - as for the Angels responsible for dealing with them... well let's just say that more than one keeps books in Heaven...
...the two continued their moving gazes about the river – then in time Jesus moved to speak...
Jesus… is this a good time Hassatan?...
...Hassatan, occupied, turned slowly to look to Jesus with a trace of curiosity on his brow...
Hassatan...but for what else Jesus?...
Jesus...Hassatan, I need to ask something of you - I need you to give me the key that is meant for my asking...
Hassatan...key? - what exactly are you are talking about Jesus? - you will need to be a little more clear Son of God...
...Hassatan turned back looking over the great ceremony below - Jesus kept looking at Hassatan - a small frown touched his brow...
Jesus...Hassatan, do you deceive Man - do you deceive any?...
...Hassatan, unmoved, was quiet in responding...
Hassatan...remember this Jesus - golden rule number... well, an important rule let's say - never screw with Man's free-will - so all of what I have to say is take it or leave it - I can't, nor can any other, make you believe what you don't want to - so if you think what I have to say is no better than what a dog may leave on a path, then so be it, step around it - either you are right and I have managed to waste of a lot of breath with you speaking untruths, or you decide to think maybe, just maybe, I have seen some things - all a matter for you to decide of course - but be sure about this - I am the Adversary - yours and every Man's pre-ordained Adversary in fact - and you can thank your Father for that - but my function has never been as the liar - that wouldn't go down well in the big house upstairs you see - we're all about Truth and manna you see...
Chapter 24: The Blood of the Lamb
...time passed as they watched the scene below - neither looking or speaking to the other - the music slid with the breeze moving over them... - Hassatan took a long deep breath slowly making white fire swell within his nostrils... and turned to Jesus...
Double Christ Page 6
