The Deliverer by Linda Rios Brook Read Free Book Online Page B

every step of the way by an act of his will. It hasn’t been hard for him so far. But he’s been out of town for a long time, and when he comes back and sees the grandeur of Egypt and its gods (us, of course), he might realize the absurdity of the whole idea and go home. He might begin to doubt whether the burning bush really happened; maybe it was just a mirage. That sort of thing happens in the desert a lot, you know. We could help with that. Speak confusion into his dreams; suggest to his friends that he got into a hallucinogenic weed or something. It could work.”
    Satan ignored my suggestions and turned to Bezel and the other chief demons.
    “Station your guards in Ramses’ court. Be ready when Moses arrives.”
    “We’ve had a platoon on the wall for forty years, master,” Bezel answered. “Do you really think we need more guards?”
    Satan didn’t have to answer. All he had to do was cast those awful eyes toward the demon who thought he could question Satan’s decision.
    “Right away, sir,” Bezel said meekly as he backed away.
    Off they went in blind obedience whether they had a game plan or not. As they were leaving, I decided it would be a good time to slip out the side door and get back to my perch. Satan stepped on my tail as I crept out.
    “Did I dismiss you?” he scowled. “Let me know the moment Moses steps into the city. Don’t let him get past you. You will rue the day if he does. Now get back to your post.”
    That was exactly what I was trying to do.
    I supposed God must have spoken to Aaron when I wasn’t paying attention. That would explain why he was headed out to the desert to meet Moses. In any event, the two of them met with the elders, handled the protocol of leaving, and before he had a chance to rethink the whole idea, Moses, his son, and Zipporah were on their way to the city.
    I couldn’t wait to see the look on Moses’s face when he stepped over the crest of the sand dune and beheld Egypt in all of its glory, something he hadn’t seen in forty years. I left my perch and flew down to where he was standing, careful not to make any noise or do anything to let him know he wasn’t alone. I wanted to see what the Temple of Karnak looked like from his perspective.
    I closed my eyes tightly and tried to imagine I was a human. I do that from time to time because even after all these centuries, I’m still amazed how the human race has survived against Satan’s demons. I’ve often wondered if God secretly regretted having made mankind of such inferior materials. He handicapped the entire race right from the beginning. Think about it. The whole mortality issue for humans is a terrible motivator when He needs them to go to war. Man knows he is finite. No matter how he lives or how he dies, at the end of it all, his death will be the same as the worst or best who ever lived. By contrast, even if a demon loses a battle with a human, he doesn’t die. God should have fixed this inequity centuries ago.
    Humans, on the other hand, not only die, but also many of you are willing to die on the basis of your perceived relationship with God. Why? You die and then what? You can’t be sure what, if anything, awaits you after death. Why jeopardize the life you at least have some control over now by taking impossible orders from a God who you can’t be sure exists at all. And if He does exist, He’s been known to disappear for hundreds of years at a time with no explanation at all as to where He’s been.
    And while we’re talking about it, the whole idea of the natural combating the supernatural, man against the demonic realm, is preposterous. Whose idea was that? I have a hard time imagining God came up with it on His own.
    Look at the facts. Demons don’t bleed. Let’s start right there. You humans function as a result of your blood. Poke a hole in your feeble flesh, let the blood run out, and there you go—dead human. Demons cannot be physically hurt by man, and that’s just the plain