Archangel Michael: It's My Life

The life of a Fallen Angel isn't easy. Sometimes, it amazes me how wrong humans are about us. For example, the Christians believe that we're cute entities modeled after human beings in looks and temperament, only we have wings and halos. The Jews share a similar belief. The Muslims believe that Angels don't have wings, and they don't believe in the concept of a Fallen Angel. They believe that all Angels are good, and the evil spirits are called Djinn. Well, they couldn't be more wrong. Angels, both good and bad, are something entirely different from the Djinn. In this entire cosmos, fear only one thing, ladies and gentlemen. Fear the bloody Djinn. They're more evil than the Devil.

My name is Michael, and I was once an Archangel. Not just any Archangel either. I was the Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Legion, the Leader of God's Army. What am I doing among the Fallen? That's a long and complicated story. You see, our Almighty God doesn't like it when anyone, mortal or immortal, disobeys His commands. I was part of an elite team of Angelic warriors who captured Lucifer Morningstar and defeated him for the second time as he tried to escape from the Underworld and conquer the planet Earth. I bound him to a pit, not in Hell but deep below the Earth. I placed special seals around Lucifer's prison, seals designed to basically destroy any entity, mortal or immortal, who tries to either enter the prison or escape from it. Lucifer is trapped forever, and the world is safe. That's what I thought.

They say that nature abhors a vacuum, and I guess that's true everywhere, including the universe in which I once dwelled. With Lucifer Morningstar gone, the Demons and Monsters who once obeyed his every wish began competing with the Fallen Angels for the Throne of Hell. Ultimately, the Son of Lucifer, better known as the Antichrist in Christian lore, became the new ruler of Hell. You see, back in the day, Lucifer married Lilith, the first woman created by God. Lilith was exiled from the Garden of Eden before God created Eve for Adam. Because Lilith left before Original Sin, she wasn't bound by God's decree that mankind was mortal. She alone out of all human beings in existence is immortal. Lucifer and Lilith had a son, the Antichrist.

Now he walks the world anew. He's a tall, good-looking and well-spoken man. The leader of a powerful nation in the West. And he's got ambition to spare. The Son of Lucifer and Lilith is half Angel and half human. Since his mother Lilith is the only immortal woman in existence, the Antichrist himself is immortal. Right now, he's busy stirring the pot. He's encouraging Christians, Jews and Muslims to fight one another in the name of God. Nothing could be further from the truth as far as God's wishes. The Jews, Christians and Muslims know the truth, that there is only one God. However, they differ in their approach toward worshiping said God. Those differences have caused many wars for thousands of years. With the Antichrist walking the halls of power, Western society and Islam are just about ready to go to war on a global scale. Once they do that, they'll unleash Armageddon.

God doesn't want mankind to destroy itself to prove their love for Him. However, the Lord respects free will more than anything. Even though the Antichrist and his minions are manipulating priests, rabbis and imams, presidents, prime ministers and kings, Heaven's best were told by God Himself not to interfere in the affairs of man. I was resigned to stand by and watch mankind destroy itself because the forces of evil were manipulating man's love for God and turning it into something which offends the Lord. I found that I could not stand by and watch while planet Earth burned and civilization ended due to global war between Christians, Jews and Muslims. The coming war over religion on a global scale threatened not only civilization but the human species itself. The thing that Christians, Jews and Muslims don't realize is that killing your brother or sister, friend or neighbor, and doing it in the name of God is the most offensive thing anyone could do to our Almighty Lord in Heaven. Seriously. Every Crusader, every Jihadist, every religious nutcase who killed himself or others for God, they're all in Hell. Every last one of them.

And that's precisely where the bulk of the human race was headed if they persisted on slaughtering one another over questions of religion. East and West were ready to go to war, and this would create a global nightmare from which humanity might never awaken. What's a devoted Archangel to do at a time like this? I honestly didn't know. I felt responsible. You see, there is much that Christians, Jews and Muslims don't know. For example, every man who is called a true Prophet of God must face temptation in the form of an evil spirit at some point. Job faced temptation. He rebuked the Devil, and thus he was a great prophet for the Jews. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah himself, faced temptation from Satan and he refused the Devil's offer. Thus he became a great prophet for the Christians. Mohammed of Arabia, the prophet of Islam, did not face temptation from a demon or Devil. He spoke to the Archangel Gabriel. The Archangel Gabriel hasn't been a soldier of Heaven for quite some time. He fell a long time ago, due to his hatred of humans and his jealousy toward the favors shown to them by our Almighty God.

I made a mistake once, ladies and gentlemen. Well, before I Fell anyway. After the Archangel Gabriel was found to be the culprit corrupting humans away from God, I was ordered to destroy him. We fought, and although I could have killed him, I let him go. I couldn't destroy my little brother. Well, that mistake would come back to haunt me. You see, Gabriel was the one who spoke to the prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam. God intended Mohammed to be a messenger of peace. After speaking with Gabriel, Mohammed changed. And that's why the world is the way it is today, with Muslims seeing Christians and Jews as infidels and idolaters. God's message to Mohammed was supposed to be one of love. In his innocence, the prophet listened to Gabriel, and the end result of that conversation means there may be no tomorrow for mankind. I should have killed Gabriel when I had the chance, but I didn't. The fallen Archangel Gabriel is one of the chief allies of the Antichrist these days. Together, they plot the extinction of the human species through clever manipulation of global events.

I couldn't stand by and let my younger brother Gabriel and the Son of Lucifer destroy mankind. So I disobeyed a direct command from God. I came down from Heaven, and tracked down my enemies. I killed hundreds of Demons, Fallen Angels and Monsters as I waged war against the followers of the Antichrist. In the end, I couldn't get to the Antichrist because he was kept hidden from me by powerful magic. I did confront the Archangel Gabriel, and we dueled. I cut off his right hand with my sword of fire, and severed his left wing. Before I could finish him off, I was transported from the New York City apartment where I was fighting my brother into the Vaults of Heaven. I found myself in the Throne Room, standing before God and the entirety of Heaven. All the Angels and Archangels. Oh, and the Elect, as the worthy souls of good men and good women are called, also got to watch. Yes, I was stripped of my rank and title, stripped of my power, and hurled down to Earth.

I am now a Fallen Angel. Gabriel is after me, and he wants revenge. Somehow, his wing and his hand grew back. The only entities outside of Heaven with such powers of healing are the Djinn. Before God created the world, He made us Angels. Before God made Angels, the Djinn were already around. Malevolent creatures of destruction whom He banished into darkness as He created the Universe. The Djinn have been freed from their dark prison by the power of the Antichrist, and they are the ones who restored Gabriel, after what I did to him. Now they're hunting me. I walk through the streets of Dallas, a six-foot-two, thirty-something Black man in a business suit, that's what I look like in the eyes of the world. I go by the name Mikhail Brownstone these days.

What am I doing in the City of Dallas? Simply waiting for the next chapter of my life. Life is the most precious thing any of us have, really. I've had time to adjust to my new existence. I'm a professor of African-American literature at Paul Quinn College, and I'm dating a young woman named Angela Mbakwe. Angie, as I call her, is something else. Five-foot-nine, curvy and chocolate-skinned, with a very pretty face. Born in Kano City, northern Nigeria, and educated at Oxford University in the City of London, England. She's working for Apex Enterprises, a conglomerate in the City of Dallas, Texas. We met at the airport and totally clicked. She's a good Christian woman and she sees the best in everyone, even when it isn't always there. That's one of the many things I love about her. I treasure my new life, and I'll defend it with my last breath.

Have I completely adjusted to life among mortals? I can't say that I have. Much about the human experience escapes me. I cherish my mortal disguise, and these days, it's not much of a disguise at all. It's my life. I like my new job, and I love the young Nigerian woman who breathes life into my otherwise dreary existence. I try not to think about my old life, but a part of me will always miss Heaven. In spite of everything that's happened to me, I still love God, and I love my brothers and sisters from the Heavenly Host whom I left behind. I like my new life here on Earth, and I'll defend it when the time comes. Until then, I'm just living my life. Peace.