Satan's Idle Stories 4. Three Emissaries

4. Three Emissaries

 

I intend to tell a story very flattering to me. It is about how I surpassed the angel Michael, the chief of Paradise, and the angel Nasargiel, the ruler of Hell, with my ingenuity. Subsequently, both prominent figures of Heaven warmly congratulated me. "You, Satan, are very clever, honor and praise to you!" - said the two angels. Of course, I am not so naive as to seriously believe that the praise of the losing competitors is sincere. Frankly speaking, the opinion of my rivals is of secondary importance to me. The main thing is to please the Creator. I will usually start from afar.

 

The world is notoriously bad. It is bad in the sense that God does not find comfort in contemplating the fruits of the labor of His spirit and His hands: what He has created too often grieves Him and almost never pleases Him.

 

When we condemn the world, we must be clear that we are condemning the people who inhabit it. God has repeatedly tried to correct His creation, that is, to change the behavior of two-legged creatures for the better. And although the Creator has never fully achieved this goal, He continues to try to this day.

 

Nowadays many cities have been built in the Promised Land, but not a single city has its inhabitants following God's commandments. There are, of course, enclaves of righteousness, but as the saying goes, one swallow does not make a spring.

 

It is established by God that among His chosen people, the guilt of one blackens the all, but He does not say otherwise, in other words, the merit of a single individual will not elevate a whole nation. It is true that in some treatises of the present writers, the achievements of lone person serve as a thorough occasion for praising the whole tribe. However, it is not prophets but ordinary sages who produce these writings, and perhaps that is why they have not yet been elevated to the canon.

 

So, God will judge the merits of a nation by the deeds of its worst representatives. And if it is so, the Savior will not come to the Promised Land - first people must correct themselves. God, who desires the good of his people, tirelessly seeks new ways to improve the world he has created.

 

***

 

Once God gathered the best minds in Heaven for an advise, the angel Michael, the angel Nasargiel, and, of course, me. The Creator radiated universal sorrow, and the anxiety of expectation froze on our faces. The Almighty sorrowfully told us of the trouble, which was known to us, and we had long been wondering how to deal with it. 

 

He reminded us that the inhabitants of the Promised Land rarely pray. There are some who do not pray at all. Do they not expect their prayers to succeed? Do they not want to ask for too much? He lamented the soullessness of the people, who were mired in the vanity of their days, their craving for bodily pleasures, and their passion for gold. He noted with bitterness that lasciviousness was less and less condemned. Worse, people say that lasciviousness is a remedy for the destruction of lasciviousness. What nonsense! And I thought to myself: "Men have ceased to fear God, and so the flowers of evil have grown!"

 

God also said that He did not want to repeat the cruel punishment He had inflicted on the sinful city of Sdom. The result was local and short-lived. It raised a moral problem, perhaps unsolvable, about the legitimacy of sacrificing the righteous to punish the wicked.

 

The Almighty did not want to embark again on the path of total punishment like the Noah's Flood. The protagonist of those dramatic events, Noah, was undoubtedly a God-fearing man. Unfortunately, the course of subsequent life has shown that there is no hereditary transmission of righteousness.

 

A new idea was needed, and God called me and the angels Michael and Nasargiel, seated us at the foot of the throne, and gazed at us, waiting for our opinions and ready to hear advise. I took the floor.

 

 - We shall not repeat the mistakes of the past," I said, "we shall not burn whole cities with fire to punish sins, nor shall we flood half the world with water in the hope of unrealized miracles of heredity. In other words, we will refuse the repression that comes from Heaven. We will create a situation where people punish themselves for the ugliness of their own existence.  

 

 - Why is self-punishment better? - asked the Almighty.

 

 - It gives hope for correction," I answered, "besides, this measure is new and has not yet been marked by the bitterness of failure.

 

 - I wonder what kind of situation you, Satan, are going to create? - Michael asked.

 

 - The idea is interesting and seems to be productive, Nasargiel remarked.

 

 - I like Satan's idea," God said, "think it over and get down to business. Let each of you choose a city to influence. I have a busy day today. Now everyone is free. Satan, I will ask you to stay.

 

Michael and Nasargiel left. God waved his finger at me. I approached the throne itself. "Satan, I know you are the most savvy," God said confidentially, "Let the angels begin, and you wait. Perhaps they will make a mistake. Act last, you'll avoid mistakes.

 

***

 

Michael, the ruler of Paradise, was the first to work on God's task. The angel sent his emissary to a certain city with the order to exhort the people to multiply freedom of all kinds. "Let everyone say what he pleases without fear, and let the courts not punish severely, and let the authorities relax their supervision of their subjects," said Michael to the emissary.

 

"Trouble will not be long in coming," reasoned Michael, "uncensored chatter is the path to anarchy, the acquiescence of the courts and authorities will encourage robbery and violence, and corruption will flourish among the people. The strong will gobble up the weak, and the unhappy inhabitants will run for their lives. The residents of other cities, seeing such a calamity, will take to teaching and prayer to keep themselves safe from calamity."

 

What happened, however, was not what Michael had hoped for. The angel did not know that the unexpected happens more often than the expected. Freed from the overseers, the people took the initiative, crafts and commerce took off. Life became better, and it became more fun to live. And when one lives richly and cheerfully, one's work is done well, and faith is neglected. The townspeople thanked the emissary of Heaven, and Michael had no choice but to recognize the failure of his enterprise.

 

Next in line was Nasargiel's attempt. He pointed his emissary to a city neighboring the one where Michael's emissary was operating. The ruler of Hell plotted to persuade people to tear off the chains of hypocritical piety. Let free love prevail, and the chains of family ties be broken. Freedom from prejudice is the motto!

 

The people will quickly become corrupt," thought Nasargiel, "and fall into depravity. Lust without prohibition will run rampant. People will lose their shame, pestilence from bad diseases will creep into every home, and the people will die out. People will punish themselves. Healthy citizens will flee from the cursed place. Neighboring cities will understand the danger, will absolutely forbid debauchery, and their inhabitants will take up a book and pray".

 

Nasargiel was wrong in his plans. Depravity did not flourish, nor did marriage between man and woman collapse, but women rose to new life and even became more equal than men. The unconventional was recognized as legitimate, and the joy of long-awaited equality flooded many hearts. Hypocrisy disappeared, straightforwardness prevailed, and people forgot the way to the houses of worship. Arts of all kinds and forms flourished. Fearing the spread of the dangerous bacillus of honesty to other cities, Nasargiel recognized the failure and ended his experiment.

 

"How wise God was to command me, the cleverest of the Heavenly Host, to act last," I thought, "so it is my turn to enact God's will. I am deeply saddened by the mistakes of my companions, but I will go another way."

 

I chose my emissary carefully. I needed an iron angel, for I was setting him a task much more difficult than that of his unsuccessful colleagues. For he was to lift the spirit of the people up, while his predecessors had pushed the people's spirit into the abyss. Finally, I found a suitable candidate. I carefully informed him of the location of the cave where he would leave his wings for a while, and blessed him.

 

In the town I had appointed, my emissary began to persuade the inhabitants to return to faith and to prayer, and he spoke tirelessly of the importance of loving God and fearing Him. My eloquent assistant found words that stirred the soul. He asserted that it was very simple to keep the commandments, but in return one would have life in Paradise. And how heartfelt he spoke of the imminent coming of the Savior! The listeners were mesmerized by the clear and unquestionable prospect that promised them so much! Bliss is so near, so altogether attainable!

 

Families grew stronger. The women devoted themselves entirely to their children, the kitchen, and prayer. The men gave themselves to Torah study. The people breathed a sigh of relief, having thrown off the heavy burden of black labor. It is no wonder that everyone was attracted to the new lifestyle - easy, reliable, promising.

 

Labor was abandoned, and poverty came to the city, to every family. Clothes are worn out. Houses are devastated. At times hunger was overwhelming. I rubbed my hands together - here it is, payback for the past foolishness! Everything happened as I had planned: it was not Heaven's retribution that did the useful work, but self-punishment. And how effective it is!

 

My plan succeeded perfectly. People punished themselves, and at the same time returned to faith and prayer. What I promised the Almighty, I have fulfilled! "Where craftiness won't teach, example will attract" - I said to Michael and Nasargiel. People from different parts of the Earth began to come to my city. Welcome! There is enough written wisdom and righteousness in books for everyone.