Several minutes passed. A siren screamed in the distance, accompanied by Brianna’s deep breathing.
“Hollywood is a dangerous place,” she finally said. “People don’t realize how evil things are there. If you want to be anyone, if you want to be famous and successful, you have to sell your soul to the devil.” She hesitated. “And I mean literally…Satan himself. Who I guess is yourgod,” she spat out with disdain.
“If you mean Lucifer, no. I don’t worship him. He’s the NWU god. I serve no one.”
“Everyone serves someone,” she said with finality. “Anyway, I got caught up in it. The parties, drugs, the wickedness. I saw things no one should ever see...the depravity…” She gulped. “The poor children.”
Thomas had no idea what she meant bythe poor children,and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
She hugged herself. “Thank God the Rapture happened, and my sister and family disappeared, or I wouldn’t have come home. I might have stayed and gotten in too deep…gone too far to ever come out.”
Thomas longed to put an arm around her and draw her close, but he didn’t want to stop her from sharing. “Weird that your sister was so strong a Deviant.”
Crossing her legs, she sat forward and shoved a hand through her tangled hair. “You would call her a very dangerous Deviant.” She laughed. “But yes. She loved Jesus with all her heart, tried to convert me over and over. Stupid me. I wouldn’t listen. I loved her so much, but I thought all the chaos of our childhood must have caused her to cling to the myth of a God who loved her.” She glanced at Thomas. “I turned to evil, and she turned to good.”
“Her husband and kid were taken too.” Only then did Thomas begin to understand how hard it must have been when the Neflams came and took people to reformation camps, split up families, and tore away loved ones.
“Yes. My niece.”
“I’m sorry.”
She blew out a sigh. “I’m not. It was the only thing that made me open my eyes. She left a ton of information for me: CDs, videos, books, Bibles, letters, and emergency supplies.”
Thomas rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Wow.”
“Yeah. I spent two months absorbing all the information. I didn’t sleep, hardly ate, and went through a miserable detox.” A shiver ran through her.
Thomas rubbed her back, not knowing what else to do.
“But at the end of it all, I got on my knees, submitted myself to Jesus, and determined in my heart to do everything I could for as long as I remained alive to serve Him, to bring as many people to Him as possible and try to make up for all evil I had done.”
“I’m sure you weren’tthatbad.”
“I was.” She leaned back against the wall and blew out a long breath. “No more.”
Thomas frowned. “You see, that’s what is wrong with your God. He demands obedience. He demands that you follow rules. If you screw up, He sends you to hell.”
She shook her head. “You’re so wrong about that, Thomas. That’s exactly what your god wants people to believe, yet the opposite is true. Yes, God wants us to live righteously and avoid sin, but only because that’s how He created the world. Sin causes pain and suffering. Doing good causes happiness and blessings. He is a Father and wants the best for us. Besides, if Jesus had not died on the cross and paid the price for everyone’s sin, all of us would end up in hell. But once we follow Him and trust Him for our salvation, He forgives every bad thing we do, and if we continue in Him, we go to live with Him forever.”
She sat up again and looked at him, though he couldn’t see her face. “Once you know Jesus, you love Him, and once you love Him, you want to serve Him.”
The woman was passionate about this God of hers, that much was obvious. She’d been willing to die for Him, be crucified…without so much as batting an eye. Thomas could never understand that kind of love and loyalty.
“Okay, I hear you. But what about all the times your God commanded the Jews to slaughter thousands of innocent people, even women and children, and animals! How can you defend that?”
“Things aren’t always what they seem. Those people God wanted killed had mixed their blood with Fallen Angels. Their DNA had been corrupted, and yes, even the animals. If the Hebrews hadn’t destroyed them, they would have eventually intermarried with them and the pure bloodline that would bring forth Jesus would have been contaminated.”
“You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“No, but God does.”
Afraid she would leave after hearing what he said next, he grabbed her hand and held on tight. “Lucifer requires nothing of his followers. We can do whatever we want. There are no rules, no restrictions, and he is now offering eternal life as well. He has brought the entire world together in harmony and peace. He doesn’t order the massacre of thousands. He truly cares for mankind. It seems to me that he is the god who should be followed.”
“Oh, really?” She laughed. “No restrictions? How about that you have to get his quantum stamp and worship him, or you can’t buy or sell anything? Or what about his law that you can’t believe in Jesus or you’ll be arrested and killed? Sounds like restrictions to me.”
She had a point there, he supposed. “He is trying to create a world free of disease, poverty, climate change, war, and discord. Sacrifices must be made.”
“Ah, I see.” She huffed. “Well, I guess time will tell which one of us is right.”
