15.
‘Excuse me I need a quick bathroom break.’ Jonathan requested.
Satan nodded. Jonathan did not wait for a second confirmation and shot out of his chair cantering out of the studio and down the corridor to men’s toilets.
He just made it, and while relieving himself, he wondered if he dared to phone anyone to let them in on what was happening. An image of Alex and the portal of hell flashed to the forefront of his mind, and very quickly he thought he’d rather not.
Hurrying back to the studio set and settling in his chair he looked at Satan’s amused expression ‘What?’
‘Oh nothing, I have always been fascinated at the complex and perfectly designed human body and especially the need to get rid of the excess.’
‘Well be glad you never have to be bothered with it. I can be a nuisance most of the time.’
They enjoyed a chuckle together immediately easing Jonathan’s tense shoulders.
‘Let’s see, the next man so faithful to God I had tried to destroy was, oh yes Abraham.’ A low growl dissipated from Satan’s throat. Immediately the relaxed tension erased Satan snarled as he reminisced ‘I resented Abraham the most of all God’s Holy men. It is through Abraham that God made His covenant. Do you remember learning about Abraham? Through Abraham, all people would be blessed?’
Jonathan thought a little then nodded slightly.
‘His children will be like the sun and the stars. The lineage of Jesus comes from Abraham, so many generations for a King.’ Satan sighed.
‘When I heard God tell this to Abraham, I had to destroy him. I couldn’t let God’s plan succeed and produce a pure bloodline until His Son came to earth. I had to infiltrate His plans and destroy all of God’s believers.’ He paused to make sure he had Jonathan’s attention.
‘So I paid a little visit to Abraham and Sarah. They were so old already; I used their age as my weapon. I quietly whispered in their ears that they must surely realize they are too old to have children. Where would generations be born from them when they are already so old? And I also convinced them that surely if God wanted them to have children, he would’ve done so by now, how was it possible for a barren woman to have a child. I wasn’t so hard to win them over with that argument. Then I persuaded Sarah to let her husband, Abraham, sleep with the Egyptian slave girl Hagar. I put all the words in her mouth and softened Abraham’s heart to her plea. They fell like rocks for it.’ Shakes he head.
‘So Hagar has this baby Ishmael. Clearly God cannot break a promise you see; He does not lie, and so all my plans were for naught. All I got out of it was the lineage of the Muslim people through Ishmael.’
Jonathan sits and raises his hand like a schoolboy in class ‘So this is where they their religion from?’
‘Yes. Now on with the story! God fulfills his promise to Abraham and Sarah and blesses them with a baby. At her age, ninety years old, she has a baby! I never thought it would happen, in any case, so Isaac is born. What a man he was.’
‘What did you do to him?’
‘Oh I tried plenty, but I’m not going to dwell on him. I’d rather speak about his son Jacob’s one son - Joseph. Oh man, what a great man he was. I admired very highly.’
‘You admired him? You did not hate him?’
‘Yes I hated him, with a passion at that, but I had to admire him too, he was that great a man.’